Report Title:

Veterans' Funerals; Protests

 

Description:

Prohibits protests within 300 feet of the entrance of any cemetery under control of the office of veterans' services from 60 minutes before to 60 minutes after a funeral.

 


HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

1419

TWENTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE, 2009

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

 

A BILL FOR AN ACT


 

 

RELATING TO VETERANS RIGHTS AND BENEFITS.

 

 

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

 


     SECTION 1.  Chapter 363, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

     "§363-    Demonstrations at cemeteries under the control of the office of veterans services; prohibited; penalties.  (a)  No person may carry out a demonstration on the property of a cemetery under the control of the office unless the demonstration has been approved by the council of the county in which the cemetery is located.

(b)  No person shall receive approval to carry out a demonstration during the period beginning sixty minutes before and ending sixty minutes after a funeral, memorial service, or ceremony is held, any part of which demonstration:

     (1)  Takes place within one hundred and fifty feet of a road, pathway, or other route of ingress to or egress from the cemetery property, and includes, as part of the demonstration, any individual wilfully making or assisting in the making of any noise or diversion that disturbs or tends to disturb the peace or good order of the funeral, memorial service, or ceremony; or

     (2)  Is within three hundred feet of the cemetery and impedes the access to or egress from the cemetery.

(b)  For purposes of this section, the term "demonstration" includes any of the following:

     (1)  Any picketing or similar conduct;

     (2)  Any oration, speech, use of sound amplification equipment or device, or similar conduct that is not part of a funeral, memorial service, or ceremony;

     (3)  The display of any placard, banner, flag, or similar device, unless such a display is part of a funeral, memorial service, or ceremony; or

     (4)  The distribution of any handbill, pamphlet, leaflet, or other written or printed matter other than a program distributed as part of a funeral, memorial service, or ceremony.

     (c)  Any person who violates this section shall be guilty of a petty misdemeanor."

     SECTION 2.  New statutory material is underscored.


     SECTION 3.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

 

INTRODUCED BY:

_____________________________