WHEREAS, it is estimated that approximately forty-five percent of all electronic mail is high volume unsolicited bulk electronic mail or "spam"; and

WHEREAS, the volume of "spam" is expected to double over the next six months and cost American businesses more than $10 million this year, and $4 million in lost productivity; and

WHEREAS, "spam" inconveniences private users by inundating personal inboxes to their capacities with voluminous amounts of "junk mail" that is both undesirable and tedious to delete; and

WHEREAS, "spam" is problematic for internet service providers, who continue to lose customers due to "spam", despite continuous policing efforts; and

WHEREAS, establishing the transmission of unsolicited bulk electronic e-mail as a misdemeanor would ensure that the most serious of violators would not engage in this activity; and

WHEREAS, other states and nations have instituted measures to reduce the incidence of "spam", and the federal government is attempting to do so; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-third Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2005, that the House of Representatives requests that the Legislative Reference Bureau study the issues associated with the criminalization of the transmission of bulk e-mail or "spam", including the utility of establishing such a crime; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the legislative reference bureau is also requested to recommend any appropriate legislation to the legislature; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the study and recommended legislation should be submitted to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the opening of the Regular Session of 2006; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Legislative Reference Bureau.

Report Title:

Requesting a task force to study criminalizing "spam"