STAND

STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1266

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2005

RE: S.B. No. 708

S.D. 2

H.D. 1

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2005

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred S.B. No. 708, S.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CHAPTER 846E,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to enhance public safety by amending the law regarding public access to registration information of sex offenders and persons convicted of certain offenses against children. Specifically, this bill, among other things:

(1) Establishes separate registries for sex offenders and offenders against children;

(2) Allows certain offenders to petition a court in a civil proceeding for termination of registration requirements and public access to registration information, and establishes legal presumptions, based on offenses, for these proceedings;

(3) Clarifies the scope of offender registration information and permitted disclosures of this information;

(4) Repeals the provision requiring the State to petition a court in a civil proceeding for the public release of sex offender information;

(5) Specifies the methods of providing public access to offender information, based on offenses; and

(6) Appropriates an unspecified amount for fiscal year 2005-2006, for state and county agencies to hire necessary staff to implement the new provisions.

Kuli'ou'ou/Kalani Iki Neighborhood Board #2, Hawaii State Coalition Against Domestic Violence, and numerous concerned individuals testified in support of this bill. The Department of the Attorney General, Department of Public Safety, Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu, Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the County of Maui, Office of the Prosecuting Attorney of the County of Kauai, Honolulu Police Department, County of Hawaii Police Department, State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers, Sex Abuse Treatment Center, Hawaii Family Forum, and three concerned individuals supported this measure with amendments. The Office of the Public Defender and the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii opposed this bill.

Your Committee has amended this bill by:

(1) Clarifying that a covered offender who is not a sexually violent predator, aggravated sex offender, or repeat covered offender may petition a court in a civil proceeding for termination of registration requirements;

(2) Providing that a covered offender who is a sexually violent predator, aggravated sex offender, or repeat covered offender may petition a court in a civil proceeding for termination of registration requirements, if the offender has substantially complied with registration requirements for 40 years;

(3) Specifying that upon denial of an offender's petition to have registration requirements terminated, the offender is precluded from filing another petition for five years;

(4) Specifying that for all covered offenders who are not sexually violent predators, aggravated sex offenders, repeat covered offenders, class C felons, or misdemeanants, there is no legal presumption for civil proceedings brought to terminate registration requirements or public access to registration information;

(5) Clarifying that time periods are tolled when a covered offender is committed to prison;

(6) Providing that court determinations of whether a sex offender is sexually violent must be made by the court after considering the recommendation of a board composed of experts in the behavior and treatment of sex offenders, victim's rights advocates, and representatives of law enforcement agencies;

(7) Amending the new definition of "aggravated sexual offense" to include:

(A) Comparable criminal, federal, military, or out-of-state offenses; and

(B) Attempts, criminal solicitations, or criminal conspiracy to commit an aggravated sexual offense;

(8) Adding a definition of "aggravated sex offender" to include persons charged with an aggravated sexual offense and found unfit to proceed and released into the community, or acquitted due to physical or metal disease, disorder, or defect and released;

(9) Amending the new definition of "repeat covered offender" to include a person charged with more than one covered offense and who has more than once been convicted, found unfit to proceed, or acquitted due to a physical or mental disease, disorder, or defect;

(10) Amending the new definition of "sexual offense" to include:

(A) Offenses relating to sexual assault of confined or committed persons by facility employees; knowing sexual contact with minors, or mentally incapacitated or physically helpless persons; except for sexual conduct that is criminal only because of the age of the victim if the perpetrator is under the age of 18;

(B) Acts of kidnapping or unlawful imprisonment in the first degree if the convicted person was charged with actual or attempted sexual penetration or contact;

(D) Possession of child pornography chargeable as a felony; and

(E) Electronic enticement of a child chargeable as a felony, if the act involves sexual conduct, attempted sexual conduct, or a proposal to engage in sexual conduct;

(11) Requiring registration information to include:

(A) All prior names used, to be included as public information;

(B) Actual business addresses known; and

(C) A statement listing all covered offenses for which the covered offender was convicted or found unfit to proceed or acquitted;

(12) Clarifying that a covered offender must comply with registration requirements until a court relieves the offender of those requirements;

(13) Requiring public access to registration information to continue until the expiration of at least:

(A) Twenty-five years after sentencing or release, whichever is later, of any covered offender who is not a repeat covered offender, aggravated sexual offender, or sexually violent predator, and whose most serious covered offense is a class A felony or its non-Hawaii equivalent;

(B) Fifteen years after sentencing or release, whichever is later, of any covered offender who is not a repeat covered offender, aggravated sexual offender, or sexually violent predator, and whose most serious covered offense is a class B felony or its non-Hawaii equivalent;

(14) Specifying that the standard of proof for a covered offender petitioning a court for termination of public access of registration information is a preponderance of the evidence, rather than clear and convincing evidence;

(15) Providing that a denial by a court of a petition to terminate public access to registration information precludes the filing of another petition for five years from the date of the last denial;

(16) Extending from three working days to ten, the amount of time that a covered offender has to notify in writing the Attorney General or the Hawaii Criminal Justice Data Center of a change of any of the offender's registration information;

(17) Appropriating $115,000 in general funds for fiscal year 2005-2006, for state and county agencies to hire necessary staff to implement the new provisions of this measure;

(18) Providing that the provisions of this measure will have retroactive application; and

(19) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for clarity and style.

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 S.B. No. 708, S.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 708, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Finance.

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

		____________________________ SYLVIA LUKE, Chair