STAND. COM. REP. NO.  470

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2011

RE:   H.B. No. 946

      H.D. 1

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2011

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Labor & Public Employment, to which was referred H.B. No. 946, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HUMAN TRAFFICKING,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to combat human trafficking by:

     (1)  Establishing the offense of human trafficking in the               first degree;

     (2)  Establishing the offenses of sexual human trafficking in      the first and second degrees;

     (3)  Establishing civil actions for damages for victims of              human trafficking; and

(4)  Including sexual human trafficking among the offenses that the Attorney General is to give greatest priority to in providing security, protection, and funding under the Statewide Witness Program.

Pacific Survivor Center, Life of the Land, Hawaii Catholic Conference, Hawaii Family Forum, and Fracturedpolitics testified in support of this bill.  ILWU Local 142 testified in support of this bill, with a suggested amendment.  The Pacific Alliance to Stop Slavery and Equality Now testified in opposition to this bill.  The Department of Labor and Industrial Relations Office of Community Services and the Polaris Project commented on the measure.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Labor & Public Employment that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 946, H.D. 1, and recommends that it be referred to the Committee on Judiciary.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Labor & Public Employment,

____________________________

KARL RHOADS, Chair