STAND. COM. REP. NO.  70-08

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2008

RE:   H.B. No. 2712

      H.D. 1

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2008

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce, to which was referred H.B. No. 2712 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT MAKING AN APPROPRIATION TO THE CITY AND COUNTY OF HONOLULU,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to protect personal information against identity theft, by appropriating funds for the City and County of Honolulu to develop a data encryption system.

     The Department of Information Technology of the City and County of Honolulu testified in support of this bill.

     In 2006, several bills were enacted to increase consumer protections against identity theft by requiring businesses and government agencies to:

     (1)  Notify consumers if their personal information has been compromised (Act 135, Session Laws of Hawaii 2006);

     (2)  Take reasonable measures to protect personal information when disposing of records (Act 136, Session Laws of Hawaii 2006); and

     (3)  Protect social security numbers (Act 137, Session Laws of Hawaii 2006).

This bill appropriates funds for the City and County of Honolulu to develop a data encryption system in furtherance of the protections for personal information required by the 2006 Acts.  Such a system will help protect the personal information handled by the City and County of Honolulu, which maintains such data for its driver's licensing, motor vehicle registration, voter registration, and juvenile justice information systems.

Your Committee has amended this bill by:

     (1)  Changing the appropriation to a nominal sum to encourage further discussion; and

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

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2712, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2712, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Finance.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce,

____________________________

ROBERT N. HERKES, Chair