STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2717

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2114

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred S.B. No. 2114 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE CHILDREN'S JUSTICE PROGRAM,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to update the purpose of the Children's Justice Program to include investigation and management of cases involving suspected or confirmed child sex trafficking, commercial sexual exploitation of children, other child maltreatment, and child witnesses to crime or violence.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Judiciary, Department of Human Services, Department of the Attorney General, Department of Education, Honolulu Police Department, Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu, Office of the Prosecuting Attorney of the County of Kauai, Office of the Prosecuting Attorney of the County of Hawai‘i, Hawai‘i Police Department, County of Kauai Victim/Witness Program, Sex Abuse Treatment Center, Friends of the Children's Justice Center of Oahu, YWCA of Kaua‘i, Hale Kipa, Neighborhood Place of Kona, Catholic Charities Hawai‘i, Parents and Children Together, Hawai‘i Exploitation and Trafficking Unit, and five individuals. Your Committee received comments on this measure from one individual.

Your Committee finds that the Children's Justice Program currently plays a vital role in providing support for the special needs of child victims and witnesses of child sex abuse and serious physical child abuse. Victims of child sex trafficking, commercial sexual exploitation of children, and other child maltreatment and child witnesses to crime or violence are also vulnerable and experience various forms of complex trauma, and would benefit from the support of the Children's Justice Program. Expanding the purpose of the Children's Justice Program to include these additional victim populations aligns with the mission of the Children's Justice Program and will help reduce and prevent unnecessary trauma while ensuring justice for children and their families.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2114 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

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

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KARL RHOADS, Chair