STAND. COM. REP. NO. 488-04

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2004

RE: H.B. No. 2789

H.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2004

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred H.B. No. 2789 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO SEXUAL ASSAULT,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to amend the law defining continuous sexual assault of a minor under the age of 14 years to require that:

(1) The requisite number of sexual acts occur over a period of at least three months; and

(2) A jury unanimously agrees as to which three acts constitute the offense, even if the jury cannot agree on how many acts occurred overall.

The Department of the Attorney General opposed this measure. The Office of the Public Defender provided comments.

Your Committee finds that this measure conforms the statute relating to the continuous sexual assault of a minor under the age of 14 years to a recent state Supreme Court ruling setting forth the requirements for conviction under the statute.

 

Your Committee has amended this bill by:

(1) Removing the requirement that the sexual acts occur over at least a three-month period; and

(2) Making technical, nonsubstantive changes for style and clarity.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2789, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2789, H.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary,

 

____________________________

ERIC G. HAMAKAWA, Chair