STAND. COM. REP. NO. 636

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 332

       S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2017

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred S.B. No. 332 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO NOTARIES PUBLIC,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to prohibit a commissioned notary public from accepting a limited purpose driver's license for verification of identification.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Association of Hawaii Notaries and one individual.

     Your Committee finds that limited purpose driver's licenses are not compliant with the federal REAL ID Act, are not accepted for official federal purposes, and do not establish eligibility for employment, voter registration, or public benefits.  According to testimony received by your Committee, because a limited purpose driver's license fails to comply with the REAL ID Act, there may be an increased potential for the use of fraudulent documentation to obtain this type of license.

     Your Committee further finds that notaries public are public officers whose duties include protecting a transaction from fraud.  Notaries public should be reasonably sure that the document they are using to verify a person's identity meets standards for issuance that are equal to the minimum federal standard.  Since limited purpose driver's licenses have a lower standard for issuance than the standard required for a regular driver's license, this measure specifies that commissioned notaries are prohibited from accepting this type of license for purposes of identification verification.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by 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. 332, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 332, S.D. 1.

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

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GILBERT S.C. KEITH-AGARAN, Chair