STAND. COM. REP. NO. 67

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2005

RE: H.B. No. 289

H.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2005

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Transportation, to which was referred H.B. No. 289 entitled:

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

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to protect the safety and welfare of children by:

(1) Creating the offense of endangering the welfare of a child in a motor vehicle;

(2) Making this offense a petty misdemeanor;

(3) Allowing law enforcement, firefighter, or rescue team personnel to use whatever means reasonably necessary to protect the child or others and to remove the child from the motor vehicle; and

(4) Requiring law enforcement, firefighter, or rescue team personnel to deliver the child that was removed from the motor vehicle to the child protective services agency of the State Department of Human Services if the person having care or custody of the child cannot be located within a reasonable time.

 

The Police Department of the City and County of Honolulu, Kids in Cars, Hawaii Family Forum, and Hawaii Catholic Conference testified in support of this measure. The Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu supported the intent of this measure. The Office of the Public Defender opposed this measure.

Each year a significant number of children are left unattended in vehicles. Although many of these cases occur within the continental United States, Hawaii has had its share of cases in which children are left alone in a vehicle for prolonged periods of time. Unfortunately, the consequences of such an action can be devastating. In fact, since 1998, Kids in Cars has documented that, nationwide, over 2,480 incidents of children being left unattended in a vehicle have occurred. These incidents involved approximately 3,148 children of which 653 died. Your Committee finds this to be unacceptable and strongly believe that the children of Hawaii must be protected from these senseless acts.

Your Committee understands the concerns raised by the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney that proving that a person knowingly endangered a minor's physical or mental welfare by leaving the minor in a vehicle, thereby violating a legal duty of care or protection owed to a minor, is very difficult since it requires that the individual must be aware and practically certain that the individual's conduct will cause the endangering of the minor's physical or mental welfare.

Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Deleting language establishing the offense of endangering the welfare of a child in a motor vehicle;

(2) Inserting language based on the language suggested by the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney; and

(3) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for clarity, consistency, and style.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Transportation that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 289, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 289, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary.

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

 

____________________________

JOSEPH M. SOUKI, Chair