STAND. COM. REP. NO.313

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2003

RE: S.B. No. 1086

S.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2003

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Education, to which was referred S.B. No. 1086 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO JUVENILE COURT RECORDS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure, as received by your Committee, is to allow limited accessibility to juvenile court records to public school officials which shall remain confidential school records and to require the courts to notify school officials when a minor has committed a felony or misdemeanor offense.

Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the Department of Education, the Hawaii Association of Independent Schools, and Department of Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu. Testimony in opposition to this measure was submitted by the Judiciary and the American Civil Liberties Union. The Department of the Attorney General and the Office of the Public Defender submitted testimony expressing concerns.

Your Committee finds that the family court's primary mission is to offer assistance and legal oversight to families, including protecting the interests of minor children, that are challenged by social problems or criminal acts within the family structure. Your Committee further finds that minors who fall under the jurisdiction of the court for offenses that if committed as adults would be crimes, most often have arrived there despite attempts by the family, their schools, and others who hoped to deter them from committing such acts. However, your Committee is gravely concerned about the potential adverse repercussions that widespread dissemination of information from family court records could have on a minor who may be responding positively to court-ordered programs that will prevent future criminal behavior. Thus, your Committee believes that while it is important for school officials to be made aware of acts committed by minors who are enrolled in school, to both assist the minor and protect students and school faculty, there are existing provisions of law that, with some modification, can achieve the purposes of this measure.

Upon further consideration of the testimony presented and concerns expressed, your Committee has amended this bill by deleting its substance and substituting therefor provisions to:

(1) Clarify that "persons, institutions, and agencies" to which the court may release information includes public and private schools, within section 571-84, Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS);

(2) Require the court to notify public or private school officials, within seven days of adjudication, that court records have been opened when a minor over the age of 14 years has been adjudicated for a serious offense;

(3) Require the court to notify public or private school officials, within seven days, when a petition has been filed against a minor for certain offenses that would be a crime if committed by an adult;

(4) Delineate that the notice should include the name of the minor, the nature of the offense, whether the minor is in protective custody and for what period, and whether the alleged victim is a student or faculty member of the school at which the student was last or is enrolled;

(5) Require the court to notify the public or private school official, within seven days, of the final disposition or adjudication of the minor's case, including whether the minor will remain under court jurisdiction;

(6) Require that the public or private school officials receiving information from the court be registered with the court and allow only one such registered official per public or private school;

(7) Delineate that all information and court records received by a public or private court official be deemed confidential and protected from disclosure except to the minor's parent or guardian, the principal and one individual teacher or counselor designated by the principal at which the minor was last or is presently enrolled;

(8) Provide that confidential material must be maintained by the designated public or private school official, may only be transferred to another public or private official registered with the court, and shall be destroyed by such official when the student is no longer enrolled in the school;

(9) Provide that anyone who intentionally discloses confidential information shall be guilty of a misdemeanor; and

(10) Appropriate funds to the Department of Education for a public school liaison to the family court and to the Judiciary for a family court liaison to the public schools.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Education that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1086, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1086, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs.

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

____________________________

NORMAN SAKAMOTO, Chair