STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1733

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 874

H.D. 3

S.D. 2

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2025

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Judiciary and Commerce and Consumer Protection, to which was referred H.B. No. 874, H.D. 3, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CHILD PERFORMERS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to protect the safety, morals, health, and well-being of child performers who work or reside in the State by requiring that a portion of the child performer's earnings be kept in trust for the benefit of the child performer until the child reaches the age of majority.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii State AFL-CIO, IATSE Local 665, SAG-AFTRA Hawaii Local, Hawaiʻi Children's Action Network Speaks!, Pride at Work Hawaiʻi, and nineteen individuals.

Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.

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

Your Committees find that several states have made efforts to create safer, more transparent work environments, more safeguards regarding the use or misuse of a child's likeness, and guaranteed financial protections for children who create digital content. Your Committees believe that one of the most important safeguards is the requirement that a portion of a child's income generated by their performance work be placed in a trust account and made available when they legally become an adult. This measure will provide this necessary layer of protection for the well-being of child performers in the State.

Your Committees note that this measure, as written, requires the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations to adopt rules for its Wage Standards Division to carry out the purposes of this measure. However, existing law limits the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations' Wage Standards Division's authority to matters administered under chapters 387 (minimum wage), 388 (non‑payment of wages), and 390 (certificates of employment for minors), Hawaii Revised Statutes. Given that these duties are unrelated to private trust matters or how wages are spent, and because this measure already allows a private right of action and possible criminal penalties, your Committees believe that amendments to this measure are necessary.

Accordingly, your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Deleting language that would have required the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations to adopt rules for its Wage Standards Division to carry out the purposes of this measure; and

(2) Making a technical, nonsubstantive amendment for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Judiciary and Commerce and Consumer Protection that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 874, H.D. 3, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 874, H.D. 3, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Judiciary and Commerce and Consumer Protection,

________________________________ JARRETT KEOHOKALOLE, Chair

________________________________ KARL RHOADS, Chair