STAND. COM. REP. NO 608

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 514

       S.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred S.B. No. 514 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THEFT OF PERSONAL ELECTRONIC DEVICES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to establish a class C felony for theft of personal electronic devices that has the capability to store or retrieve personal information.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of the Attorney General; Department of the Prosecuting Attorney, City and County of Honolulu; Department of the Prosecuting Attorney, County of Maui; and one individual.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Office of the Public Defender.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from one individual.

     Your Committee finds that personal electronic devices store personal and sensitive information and data that exceed the monetary value of the devices.  Furthermore, the monetary valuation of personal electronic devices can be problematic because these devices rapidly lose their monetary value as new technology is released.   This measure eliminates the difficulty of setting a monetary value for personal electronic devices by establishing a class C felony for the theft of any personal electronic device.

     Your Committee notes the concerns raised by the Departments of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu and County of Maui in their respective testimony.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Adopting the language suggested by the Department of the Attorney General which:

          (A)  Clarifies that the offense of theft in the second degree includes theft of any personal electronic device rather than any computer capable of storing or retrieving personal information; and

          (B)  Adds a definition of "personal electronic device"; and

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

     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. 514, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 514, 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