STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2574

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2522

       S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2016

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred S.B. No. 2522 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO SEXUAL ASSAULT,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to amend the offense of sexual assault in the fourth degree to include a person who knowingly engages in or causes sexual contact with a person who is at least sixteen years old but less than eighteen years old and the person holds a position of trust, power, authority, or supervision over that minor with certain exceptions.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Police Department, City and County of Honolulu; Ho‘omana Pono, LLC; and two individuals.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Office of the Public Defender.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney, City and County of Honolulu.

     Your Committee finds that this measure is aimed at persons, such as teachers or employers, who abuse their position of trust, power, authority, or supervision to engage in sexual contact with a teenager who is sixteen or seventeen years old.  However, the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu and Office of the Public Defender raised concerns in written testimony that the phrase "position of trust, power, authority, or supervision" is vague and could apply to a number of relationships that the law might not intend to criminalize.

     Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Replacing language referring to a position of trust, power, authority, or supervision with language that specifies that a person is contemporaneously acting in a professional capacity to instruct, advise, or supervise the minor;

     (2)  Inserting an effective date of January 7, 2059, to encourage further discussion; and

     (3)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary and Labor that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2522, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2522, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary and Labor,

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GILBERT S.C. KEITH-AGARAN, Chair