STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2792

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2318

       S.D. 2

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2016

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 2318, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ADDRESS CONFIDENTIALITY,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to protect survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking.

     More specifically, the measure:

     (1)  Establishes within the Department of the Attorney General the Address Confidentiality Program to provide that qualified participants may use a substitute legal address for certain purposes in order to protect the confidentiality of the participant's actual address and prevent assailants or potential assailants from locating the participant through public records; and

     (2)  Makes an appropriation for the implementation and operation of the Address Confidentiality Program.

     Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the Crime Victim Compensation Commission, Hawaii State Commission on the Status of Women, Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu, American Association of University Women - Hawaii, Hawaii State Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Hawaii State Democratic Women's Caucus, Parents and Children Together, The Sex Abuse Treatment Center, and two individuals.

     Your Committee finds that this measure will protect victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking by providing a substitute legal address that Address Confidentiality Program participants may use when an address is required for public records.  Your Committee also finds that this will enable participants to keep their actual address confidential when applying for a driver's license, receiving child support payments, registering to vote, accepting legal service, or for other purposes that require a mailing address.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Changing the appropriation from $362,600 to an unspecified amount to facilitate further discussion on the measure; and

     (2)  Changing the effective date to January 1, 2017, except for the appropriation provision.

     Your Committee notes that, during its deliberations on this measure, it was determined that the appropriation amount included funding for two full-time equivalent (2.0 FTE) positions to staff the Address Confidentiality Program.  As this measure continues to move forward, it should be determined which agency or department is most appropriate to administer the program.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2318, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2318, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

________________________________

JILL N. TOKUDA, Chair