Report Title:

Sex offender notification; registration

Description:

Amends existing laws regarding sex offender notification and registration to provide increased due process protections to sex offenders.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

1927

TWENTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2002

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

RELATING TO sex offender notification and registration.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that the Supreme Court raised concerns of a lack of procedural due process in Chapter 846E of the Hawaii Revised Statutes in the case of State v. Bani. Specifically, the Court held that the public notification provisions of chapter 846E deprive sex offenders of a protected liberty interest without due process of law. The purpose of this Act is to provide due process to sex offenders with regards to public notification while balancing the legitimate state interest of protecting the citizens of Hawaii.

SECTION 2. Section 846E-2, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§846E-2 Registration requirements. (a) A sex offender shall register with the attorney general and comply with the provisions of this chapter for life.

(b) Registration information for each sex offender shall consist of a recent photograph, verified fingerprints, and a signed statement by the sex offender containing:

(1) Name and all aliases used by the sex offender or under which the sex offender has been known and other identifying information, including date of birth, social security number, sex, race, height, weight, and hair and eye color;

(2) The legal address and telephone number of the sex offender's residence or mailing address, or any current, temporary address where the sex offender resides, and for each address how long the sex offender has resided there;

(3) The legal address and telephone number where the sex offender is staying for a period of more than ten days, if other than the stated residence;

(4) The future address and telephone number where the sex offender is planning to reside, if other than the stated residence;

(5) Names and legal addresses of current and known future employers and the starting and ending dates of any such employment;

(6) The year, make, model, color, and license number of all vehicles currently owned or operated by the sex offender;

(7) A summary of the criminal offenses against victims who were minors and sexually violent offenses for which the sex offender has been convicted or found unfit to proceed or acquitted pursuant to chapter 704;

(8) A statement indicating whether the sex offender has received or is currently receiving treatment for mental abnormality or personality disorder;

(9) A statement indicating whether the sex offender is a United States citizen; and

    (10) Any additional identifying information about the sex offender."

SECTION 3. Section 846E-3, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§846E-3 Access to registration information. (a) Registration information shall be disclosed as follows:

(1) Unless an order is made by the parole board or court, as applicable, that the sex offender is not a recidivist threat to the community, the [The] information shall be disclosed to law enforcement agencies for law enforcement purposes and [;

(2) The information shall be disclosed] to government agencies conducting confidential background checks.[;

(3)](2) Unless an order is issued, at the request of the sex offender, by the parole board or a court, that the sex offender is not a recidivist threat to the community, in addition to those disclosures allowed in subparagraph (1), the [The] attorney general and any county police department shall release relevant information that is necessary to protect the public concerning a specific person required to register under this chapter; provided that the identity of a victim of an offense that requires registration under this chapter shall not be released. The sex offender must prove by clear and convincing evidence that he or she is not a recidivist threat to the community.

(b) For purposes of this section, "relevant information that is necessary to protect the public" means:

(1) Name and all aliases used by the sex offender or under which the sex offender has been known;

(2) The street name and zip code where the sex offender resides and how long the sex offender has resided there;

(3) The street name and zip code where the sex offender is staying for more than ten days, if other than the stated residence;

(4) The future street name and zip code, if known, where the sex offender is planning to reside, if other than the stated residence;

(5) The street name and zip code of the sex offender's current locations of employment;

(6) The year, make, model, color, and license number of all vehicles currently owned or operated by the sex offender;

(7) A brief summary of the criminal offenses against victims who were minors and the sexually violent offenses for which the sex offender has been convicted or found unfit to proceed or acquitted pursuant to chapter 704; and

(8) A recent photograph of the sex offender.

(c) Relevant information that is necessary to protect the public shall be collected for purposes of making it available to the general public, and a sex offender shall have a diminished expectation of privacy in the information.

(d) The release of relevant information that is necessary to protect the public shall be accomplished by public access to a file containing the relevant information on each registered sex offender, a copy of which shall be provided for inspection upon request at the Hawaii criminal justice data center and at one or more designated police stations in each county, between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. on weekdays excluding holidays. The chief of police and the attorney general shall provide the relevant information on sex offenders upon payment of reasonable fees. Relevant information on each registered sex offender may also be released from an electronic database maintained by the respective law enforcement agencies that is accessible to users through an interactive computer-based system."

SECTION 4. Section 846E-4, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§846E-4 Duties upon discharge, parole, or release of sex offender. (a) Each person, or that person's designee, in charge of a jail, prison, hospital, school, or other institution to which a sex offender has been committed pursuant to a conviction, or an acquittal or finding of unfitness to proceed pursuant to chapter 704, for a sexually violent offense or a criminal offense against a victim who is a minor, and each judge, or that judge's designee, who continues bail for or releases a sex offender following a guilty verdict or a plea of guilty or nolo contendere, who releases a sex offender on probation or who discharges a sex offender upon payment of a fine, and each agency having jurisdiction, shall, prior to the discharge, parole, or release of the sex offender:

(1) Explain to the sex offender the duty to register and the consequences of failing to register under this chapter;

(2) Obtain from the sex offender all of the registration information required by this chapter;

(3) Inform the sex offender that if the sex offender changes name, employment, vehicle, or residence address, the sex offender shall notify the attorney general of the new registration information in writing within three working days;

(4) Inform the sex offender that, if the sex offender changes residence to another state, the sex offender shall register the new address with the attorney general and also with a designated law enforcement agency in the new state, if the new state has a registration requirement, not later than ten days after establishing residence in the new state;

(5) Obtain and verify fingerprints and a photograph of the sex offender, if these have not already been obtained or verified in connection with the offense that triggers the registration;

(6) Require the sex offender to sign a statement indicating that the duty to register has been explained to the sex offender; and

(7) Give one copy of the signed statement and one copy of the registration information to the sex offender.

(b) No sex offender required to register under this chapter shall be discharged, released from any confinement, or placed on parole or probation unless the requirements of subsection (a) have been satisfied and all registration information required under section 846E-2 has been obtained.

(c) Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, a copy of the signed statement and one copy of the registration information shall be transmitted to the attorney general within three working days.

(d) Following receipt of the information from the agency having jurisdiction over the sex offender, the attorney general immediately shall enter the information into a statewide record system, unless the information has been previously entered into a statewide record system, and notify the county police department or appropriate law enforcement agency having jurisdiction where the sex offender expects to reside. The attorney general immediately shall transmit the conviction data and verified fingerprints to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, unless the items have been previously transmitted to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

(e) Each sex offender, within three working days after release from incarceration, release from commitment, release on furlough, placement on parole, or placement on probation, or within three working days after arrival in a county in which the sex offender resides or expects to be present for a period exceeding ten days, shall register in person with the county chief of police having jurisdiction of the area in which the sex offender resides or is present. The chief of police shall transmit any sex offender registration information required by this chapter to the attorney general, by entering the information into a statewide record system, if the information has not previously been entered into the system, and also shall provide the attorney general with a photograph and fingerprints of the sex offender, taken at the time the sex offender registers with the chief of police. The sex offender shall report in person every five years to the county chief of police of the county where the sex offender's residence is located for purposes of having a new photograph taken."

SECTION 5. Chapter 846E, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"§846E- Hearing; removal from sex offender registry. Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, any sex offender may petition the parole board or court to remove his or her name from the sex offender registry as defined in this chapter. If the parole board or court, as applicable, finds that a sex offender poses no threat of recidivism to the community, by clear and convincing evidence, the duty to register under this chapter is waived and any information provided by the offender shall be removed from the registry."

SECTION 6. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 7. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

 

 

 

INTRODUCED BY:

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