STAND. COM. REP. NO.  1602

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2021

 

RE:   H.C.R. No. 11

      H.D. 1

 

 

 

 

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2021

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred H.C.R. No. 11, H.D. 1, entitled:

 

"HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE HAWAII STATE COMMISSION ON THE STATUS OF WOMEN TO CONVENE A TASK FORCE TO STUDY MISSING AND MURDERED NATIVE HAWAIIAN WOMEN AND GIRLS,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure is to request the Hawaii State Commission on the Status of Women to convene a task force to study missing and murdered Native Hawaiian women and girls.

 

     Your committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Judiciary, Department of Health, Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Hawaii State Commission on the Status of Women, Planned Parenthood Votes Northwest and Hawaii, Hawaii Children's Action Network Speaks!, and two individuals.

 

Your Committee finds that indigenous women and girls have a greater risk of becoming victims of violence than any other population in the United States and are particularly vulnerable to sex trafficking and other forms of violent crimes.  Your Committee further finds that in a 2018 survey of victims of sex trafficking conducted by the Hawaii State Commission on the Status of Women in partnership with Arizona State University, seventy-seven percent of the victims were Native Hawaiian; a subsequent study conducted in 2019 found that sixty-four percent of the victims were Native Hawaiian.  Additionally, your Committee finds that from 2017 to 2019, one out of every three child sex trafficking victims reported to the Child Welfare Services child sex trafficking hotline were Native Hawaiian, and ninety-five percent of the victims were girls.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee concurs with the intent and purpose of H.C.R. No. 11, H.D. 1, and recommends its adoption.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs,

 

 

 

 

____________________________

MARK M. NAKASHIMA, Chair