Establishes registry of children's electronic contact points to which unsolicited messages regarding pornography, illegal or prescription drugs, alcohol, tobacco, gambling, firearms, and fireworks may not be sent; makes it a class C felony to send such messages to a registered electronic contact point and authorizes civil penalty of $5,000 per message.

A BILL FOR AN ACT

SECTION 1. The Hawaii Revised Statutes is amended by adding a new part to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

§   -A Definitions. As used in this part, unless the context otherwise requires:

"Contact point" means any electronic identification to which messages can be sent, including any of the following:

"Department" means the department of commerce and consumer affairs.

"Internet domain name" means a globally unique, hierarchical reference to an internet host or service, assigned through centralized internet authorities, comprising a series of character strings separated by periods, with the right-most string specifying the top of the hierarchy.

"Minor" means an individual under the age of eighteen years.

"Person" means an individual, corporation, association, partnership, or any other legal entity.

"Registry" means the child protection registry created under section -3.

§   -B Child protection registry. (a) The department shall establish and operate, or contract with a qualified third party to establish and operate, the child protection registry. The department or a third party administrator shall establish procedures, to the extent possible, to prevent the use or disclosure of protected contact points as required under section    -E.

(b) A parent, guardian, individual, or an entity under subsection (d) who is responsible for a contact point to which a minor may have access may register that contact point with the department. The department shall establish procedures to ensure that a registrant meets the requirements of this subsection.

(c) A registration under this section shall be for not more than three years. If the contact point is established for a specific minor, the registration expires on the minor registrant's eighteenth birthday. A registration can be canceled or renewed by the registrant upon notification to the department.

(d) Schools and other institutions or entities primarily serving minor children may register one or more contact points with the department. An entity under this subsection may make one registration for all contact points of the entity and the registration may include the entity's internet domain name.

(e) No fee or charge shall be assessed or incurred by a person registering a contact point under this part.

(f) The department shall establish a procedure for senders to verify compliance with the registry.

(g) A person desiring to send a message described in section -D shall pay the department a fee for access to the mechanism required under subsection (f) . The fee required under this subsection shall be set by the department by rule. The fee shall not exceed .03 cents per contact point and shall be based

on the number of contact points checked against the registry for each time the registry is checked.

(h) The fees collected under this section shall be credited to the following:

§   -C Children's protection registry special fund. (a) The children's protection registry special fund is created as a separate fund in the state treasury and shall be administered by the department. Money shall be deposited into the fund as required by section    -3(h)(1).

(b) The department shall expend money from the fund only for the purposes of administering this part and for investigations under and enforcement and defense of this part.

(c) All money, including interest and earnings, in the fund at the end of the fiscal year shall remain in the fund and not revert to the general fund.

§   -D Prohibited acts; sending messages. (a) A person shall not send, cause to be sent, or conspire with a third party to send a message to a contact point that has been registered for more than thirty calendar days with the department if the primary purpose of the message is, directly or indirectly, to advertise or otherwise link to a message that advertises a product or service that a minor is prohibited by law from purchasing, viewing, possessing, participating in, or otherwise receiving.

(b) A person desiring to send a message described in subsection (a) shall use the mechanism created under section    -B(f) to ensure compliance with this part.

(c) The consent of a minor or third party to receive the message is not a defense to a violation of this section.

(d) A person does not violate this section if the person:

(e) The sending of a message described in subsection (a) is prohibited only if it is otherwise prohibited for the minor to purchase, view, possess, participate in, or otherwise receive the product or service.

§   -E Prohibited acts; release of registry information. (a) A person shall not release to another person information concerning persons, or provide access to contact points or other information, contained on the registry except as provided by this part.

(b) A person shall not sell or use the registry for any reason other than to meet the requirements of this part.

(c) A person shall not access or attempt to access the registry except as provided by this part.

(d) The registry created under this part is not subject to disclosure under chapter 92F.

§   -F Criminal penalties. An intentional or knowing violation of this part is a computer crime and, in addition to any penalties authorized by part IX of chapter 708, shall be punishable as a class C felony.

§   -G Civil remedies. (a) A civil action based on the computer crime established under this part may be brought by:

(b) In any action brought under this section, the prevailing party may be awarded reasonable attorney's fees if the action is found by the court to be frivolous.

(c) A person bringing an action under this section may recover one of the following:

(d) If the attorney general has reason to believe that a person has violated this part, the attorney general may investigate the business transactions of that person. The attorney general may require that person to appear, at a reasonable time and place, to give information under oath and to produce such documents and evidence necessary to determine whether the person is in compliance with the requirements of this part.

(e) Any civil penalties collected by the attorney general under this section shall be credited to the attorney general for the costs of investigating offenses under this part and enforcing and defending this part.

§ -H Rules. The department shall adopt rules pursuant to chapter 91 necessary for the purposes of this part."

SECTION 2. This Act does not affect rights and duties that matured, penalties that were incurred, and proceedings that were begun, before its effective date.

SECTION 3. In codifying the new sections added by section 1 of this Act, the revisor of statutes shall substitute appropriate section numbers for the letters used in designating the new sections in this Act.

SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.