Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2003

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 933 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to rewrite the harassment by stalking statute by:

Your Committee received testimony supporting the intent of the bill from the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney, the Hawaii State Coalition Against Domestic Violence, and Women Helping Women. The Coordinated Rural Community Response Project supported the bill. The Office of the Public Defender, the Honolulu Police Department, and Hawaii Moms and Dads 4Kids opposed the measure.

Your Committee finds that domestic abusers often stalk their victims, and like other forms of abuse, stalking often escalates in severity and frequency over time. Your Committee appreciates the efforts to strengthen the stalking laws. Your Committee finds, however, that the measure as written will make it more difficult to prosecute offenders. Therefore, your Committee replaced the contents of this measure with Senate Bill 2529, Senate Draft 1 from the 2002 legislative session. According to the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney, these changes will make the stalking laws more effective by making it easier to prosecute offenders under the laws. This bill as amended now amends the stalking statutes by:

(1) Defining "course of conduct" in section 711-1106.5;

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 933, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 933, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.