STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1663

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 472

H.D. 1

S.D. 2

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2025

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred H.B. No. 472, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO DIGITAL IDENTIFICATION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Allow digitized identification cards to be accepted as a valid form of identification, under certain conditions; and

(2) Beginning July 1, 2027, authorize state and county law enforcement agencies to accept a digitized identification card as proof of a person's identity.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Transportation.

Your Committee finds that the difference between a digitized identification and mobile driver's license is the mobile driver's license complements the physical state-issued credential rather than replacing it. Your Committee further finds that, since August 2024, when the Department of Transportation implemented a mobile driver's license, which allows residents to add their driver's license or identification to an Apple digital wallet, 25,295 residents have been provisioned with a mobile driver's license. This measure will allow more of the State's residents to enjoy the convenience of digitized identification by allowing them to verify their identity using a digitized form of identification, to the extent permitted by federal and state law.

Your Committee notes that this measure, as written, exempts the State, or any of its agencies; a private business; legal entity; or person from liability as a result of the use or misuse of a digitized identification card. Your Committee believes that the standard rules of liability should apply in these instances, and therefore amendments to this measure are necessary.

Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Deleting language that would have shielded the State, or any of its agencies; a private business; legal entity; or person from liability as a result of the use or misuse of a digitized identification card;

(2) Clarifying that the authorization of use of a digitized identification card established by this measure does not apply where a physical copy of an individual's current driver's license, valid passport, or visa issued by the federal government or another country, or other card of identity, is held in compliance with state or federal law; and

(3) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

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 H.B. No. 472, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 472, H.D. 1, S.D. 2.

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

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KARL RHOADS, Chair