Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2003

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Consumer Protection and Commerce, to which was referred H.B. No. 1099 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to amend chapter 92F, Hawaii Revised Statutes, which controls government disclosure of information, by adding social security numbers to the list of information in which an individual has a significant privacy interest.

Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the Office of Information Practices and the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii. The Hawaii Government Employees Association and a concerned individual testified in support of the intent of the bill and requested amendments.

Your Committee finds that this bill will benefit the public by limiting access to an individual's social security number, which will help to prevent identity theft. This bill will ensure that social security numbers contained in government records are redacted before the records are released to the public.

However, your Committee finds that the uniqueness of a social security number best serves the purpose of identifying an individual, and believes that provision should be made for its limited use and disclosure by governmental agencies for the purposes of public employment, collective bargaining, and payroll and pension deduction. Accordingly, your Committee has amended this bill to provide this exception.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Consumer Protection and Commerce that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1099, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1099, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary.