STAND. COM. REP. NO.2603

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2002

RE: S.B. No. 2764

S.D. 2

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2002

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 2764, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO VITAL STATISTICS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to require the Department of Health to ensure adequate safety measures to safeguard its electronic vital statistics records.

The bill also provides a more efficient process for registering births and deaths in the State.

Your Committee finds that identity theft is a serious problem that is aggravated when the thief gains access to vital statistics records to more easily and convincingly impersonate the victim. Records of death, and especially births, can be used to create alternative identities that can cost the victim thousands of dollars to straighten out. Keeping this data secure will help protect the residents of this State.

The bill also allows for filing of vital statistics records in a more efficient manner that makes the records easier to access, and also allows them to be accessed in a more timely manner. This provides an important community service.

Your Committee has amended the bill by making technical nonsubstantive corrections to make the text conform to the existing Hawaii Revised Statutes sections.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2764, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2764, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

____________________________

BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair