STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2336

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2363

       S.D. 1

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2008

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 2363 entitled:

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

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to promote the health and safety of developmentally disabled individuals by protecting them from sexual predation.

     Specifically, this measure holds perpetrators strictly liable for sexual assault against persons who are mentally defective.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of the intent of this measure from the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney, the City and County of Honolulu Police Department, and one individual.

     Your Committee finds that the developmentally disabled are a vulnerable population in our communities that need to be adequately protected in a manner similar to that given to minors in the State's Penal Code.  Your Committee further finds that Hawaii's Penal Code currently makes sexual penetration or contact with minors under a certain age a "strict liability" offense, one in which proof of specific criminal intent is not required.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Adopting the recommendations of the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney and inserting language that clarifies the intended strict liability for sexual assault against persons who are mentally defective; and

     (2)  Making technical, nonsubstantive changes for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Health that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2363, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2363, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Labor.

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

____________________________

DAVID Y. IGE, Chair