STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3217

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.C.R. No. 63

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2014

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committees on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs and Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred S.C.R. No. 63 entitled:

"SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION ENCOURAGING FEMALE MEMBERS OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE TO REFORM MILITARY INVESTIGATORY AND PROSECUTORIAL SYSTEMS GOVERNING SEXUAL ASSAULTS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to encourage female members of the United States Senate to reform military investigatory and prosecutorial systems governing sexual assaults.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the State Office of Veterans Services, Planned Parenthood of Hawaii, and one individual.

     Your Committees find that sexual assault within the military ranks is increasingly coming under scrutiny as victims and lawmakers call for action and transparency.  The United States Department of Labor reports that between twenty and forty-eight percent of female veterans were sexually assaulted in the military, and more women leave the military with post-traumatic stress disorder from rape than from combat.  Victims of military sexual assault express a fear of reporting due to the military chain of command's current sole decision-making power over whether a case moves forward to trial.  Several female members of the United States Senate have proposed legislation that addresses sexual assault in the military, and your Committees encourage these Senators to continue their efforts to bring to fruition reforms to provide a safer environment for service members.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs and Judiciary and Labor that are attached to this report, your Committees concur with the intent and purpose of S.C.R. No. 63 and recommend its adoption.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs and Judiciary and Labor,

____________________________ CLAYTON HEE, Chair

____________________________ WILL ESPERO, Chair