STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2342

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 2791

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2014

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committees on Technology and the Arts and Commerce and Consumer Protection, to which was referred S.B. No. 2791 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CRIME,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to address issues that have arisen due to the use of new technology by making the following criminal offenses applicable to electronic or digital statements, documents, or records:

 

     (1)  Falsifying business records;

 

     (2)  Obtaining a government-issued identification document under false pretenses in the first degree;

 

     (3)  Obtaining a government-issued identification document under false pretenses in the second degree;

 

     (4)  Tampering with a government record; and

 

     (5)  Unsworn falsification to authorities.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of the Attorney General.

 

     Your Committees find that with current technology, many transactions are handled electronically and records are often kept in electronic or digital form.  In 2000, Hawaii adopted the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act, chapter 489E, Hawaii Revised Statutes, to recognize the need to establish the legal validity of electronic records, signatures, and contracts.  However, criminal offenses have not been updated to take into account the prevalent use of new technology and the consequent use of new technology to commit a variety of crimes.  This measure protects consumers by making relevant criminal offenses applicable to electronic or digital statements, documents, or records.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Technology and the Arts and Commerce and Consumer Protection that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2791 and recommend that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Labor.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Technology and the Arts and Commerce and Consumer Protection,

 

____________________________

ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair

 

____________________________

GLENN WAKAI, Chair