STAND. COM. REP. NO.558-02

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2002

RE: H.B. No. 2440

H.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2002

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 2440 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CHAPTER 846E, HAWAII REVISED STATUTES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of the bill is to revise chapter 846E, Hawaii Revised Statutes, to address the Hawaii Supreme Court's decision in State of Hawaii v. Eto Bani, and to make other revisions pertaining to sex offender registration.

Your Committee received testimony in support of the measure from the Department of the Attorney General, the Department of Public Safety, Honolulu Police Department, and Volunteer Legal Services Hawaii. The Department of the Prosecuting Attorney for the City and County of Honolulu supported the intent of this bill. The Office of the Public Defender opposed this measure.

Your Committee finds that the case of State of Hawaii v. Eto Bani expressed many concerns about chapter 846E, but the decision focused specifically on the provisions of section 846E-3. The court voided the notification provisions for want of providing the defendant an opportunity to be heard as to whether notification should apply to the defendant.

 

Your Committee has amended this bill by deleting the contents and inserting provisions that solely address the expressed concerns of the Supreme Court. More specifically, your Committee inserted provisions that, among other things:

(1) Provide the sex offender an opportunity to present evidence to show that he or she does not represent a threat to the community and that public notification is not necessary; and

(2) Declare that the order for release of the information should include the time duration for which the public notification is allowable, provided that the time duration should be at least five years.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2440, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2440, H.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs,

 

____________________________

ERIC G. HAMAKAWA, Chair