STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2053

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2869

       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 Human Services, to which was referred S.B. No. 2869 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CRIMINAL HISTORY RECORDS CHECKS UNDER THE CHILD PROTECTIVE ACT,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to allow the Department of Human Services to conduct criminal history record checks, with or without the consent, of the alleged perpetrators of harm or threatened harm to a child and all adults living in the family home, to ensure the safety of the child.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Human Services and Family Programs Hawaii.

     Your Committee finds that conducting criminal history record checks on individuals, without their consent, is important to protecting children after there has been an allegation of alleged harm or threat of harm.  Conducting the record checks on all adults in the family home ensure the child's continued safety.  Criminal history information assists Child Welfare Services in identifying potential factors that may place the children in imminent harm.  The criminal history record checks are also a critical factor in allowing a child victim to remain in the home with a safety plan in place and when returning a child victim to the family home from foster care.  The State has a compelling interest in keeping children safe and protecting them from potential harm.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purpose of clarity and consistency.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Human Services that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2869, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2869, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary and Labor.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Human Services,

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SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair