STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2857

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                   

 

RE:     S.B. No. 2693

        S.D. 2

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2024

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred S.B. No. 2693, S.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO STATES OF EMERGENCY,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

 

     (1)  Establish the offense of charitable fraud during a state of emergency; and

 

     (2)  Provide that a person commits charitable fraud during a state of emergency if that person, during a state of emergency proclaimed by the Governor, performs certain deceptive acts or practices in connection with the solicitation of a contribution to assist persons affected by a disaster or emergency.

 

     Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of the Attorney General.

 

     Your Committee finds that natural disasters present an opportunity for persons to fraudulently solicit contributions for disaster relief victims during a state of emergency declared by the Governor.  This measure provides the State with a means to prosecute persons engaging in charitable fraud and theft in the wake of an emergency.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Deleting language that would have made the measure apply retroactively to July 1, 2023; and

 

     (2)  Inserting an effective date of April 14, 2112, to encourage further discussion.

 

     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. 2693, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2693, S.D. 2.

 

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

 

 

 

________________________________

KARL RHOADS, Chair