THE SENATE                           S.C.R. NO.            34
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2000                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                    SENATE  CONCURRENT
                        RESOLUTION

  REQUESTING THE ATTORNEY GENERAL TO DEVELOP A QUICK AND EASY
    METHOD FOR THE CHILD SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS AND THE
    DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION TO ACCESS SEX OFFENDER
    REGISTRATION INFORMATION.
 


 1        WHEREAS, organizations that provide services to children
 2   under the age of eighteen need to know about the criminal
 3   background, if any, on sex-related offenses, of persons
 4   applying for volunteer work or paid employment with the
 5   organization; and
 6   
 7        WHEREAS, these persons work in close proximity to children
 8   and are in a particularly advantageous position to cause harm
 9   to the children; and
10   
11        WHEREAS, current law provides for release of relevant
12   information on registered sex offenders that is necessary to
13   protect the public to be accomplished by public access to a
14   file containing relevant information on each registered sex
15   offender; and
16   
17        WHEREAS, current law provides for public access by
18   inspection of a file at the Hawaii Criminal Justice Data
19   Center, and at one or more designated police stations in each
20   county between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., and upon
21   paying a reasonable fee; and
22   
23        WHEREAS, current law also allows the release of relevant
24   information from an electronic database maintained by the
25   respective law enforcement agencies that is accessible through
26   an interactive computer based system; and
27   
28        WHEREAS, current law requires that organizations send
29   someone physically to the Attorney General's office or to a
30   police department to check on records, which is inconvenient
31   and time-consuming, often discouraging organizations from
32   conducting any background check; and
33   

 
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 1        WHEREAS, the Department of Education has similar
 2   difficulty in obtaining registered sex offender information,
 3   according to testimony by Dr. Paul LeMahieu (Superintendent of
 4   Education) on S.B. No. 2720 of this 2000 Regular Session,
 5   relating to obtaining sex offender information; and
 6   
 7        WHEREAS, Dr. LeMahieu testified that:  "The Department
 8   appreciates access to a quick and convenient means of screening
 9   prospective employees and volunteers who will be working
10   closely with children to ensure that they are not registered
11   sex offenders.  Recent experience has shown that the usual
12   procedures can be unacceptably slow, and yet the delay in
13   placing new employees and volunteers can be debilitating to
14   programs."; and
15   
16        WHEREAS, the Attorney General should develop a better
17   system to address the needs and demands for quick access to
18   registered sex offender information for purposes of background
19   checks by bona fide organizations and the Department of
20   Education; now, therefore,
21   
22        BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twentieth Legislature
23   of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2000, the House of
24   Representatives concurring, that the Attorney General is
25   requested to develop a quicker and easier method than currently
26   required for organizations and the Department of Education to
27   access registered sex offender information, including but not
28   limited to phone access and electronic data base access; and
29   
30        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Attorney General report
31   findings to the legislature no later than twenty days prior to
32   the convening of the Regular Session of 2001, including
33   recommendations as to logistics, resources, costs, and proposed
34   legislation; and
35   
36        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this
37   Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Attorney General
38   and the Superintendent of Education.
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42                         OFFERED BY:  ____________________________
43