STAND. COM. REP. NO.  556

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2015

RE:   H.B. No. 745

      H.D. 1

Honorable Joseph M. Souki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce, to which was referred H.B. No. 745 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO FIDUCIARY ACCESS TO DIGITAL ASSETS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure, as received by your Committee, is to remove the uncertainty of what happens to a person's online assets when the person dies and to provide the personal representative of the person's will with access to the person's online accounts when the passwords are not in the personal representative's possession.

The Commission to Promote Uniform Legislation testified in support of this measure.  The American Civil Liberties Union, Uniform Law Commission, and State Privacy & Security Coalition testified in opposition to this measure.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by deleting its contents and inserting provisions from the Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act.  As amended, this measure:

     (1)  Specifies that the new chapter be cited as the Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act;

     (2)  Amends, adds, and removes definitions to conform to the Uniform Law Commission's approved Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act;

     (3)  Specifies who the Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act applies to;

     (4)  Clarifies access by a personal representative, conservator, agent, or trustee to digital assets of a decedent;

     (5)  Clarifies fiduciary authority relative to digital assets;

     (6)  Clarifies compliance requirements relative to custodians;

     (7)  Specifies that a custodian and its officers, employees, and agents are immune from liability for an act or omission done in good faith in compliance with the Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act;

     (8)  Clarifies the relationship between the Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act and the federal Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act; and

     (9)  Changes the effective date to July 1, 2112, to encourage further discussion.

     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. 745, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 745, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary.

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

____________________________

ANGUS L.K. McKELVEY, Chair