196           
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES             H.C.R. NO.            
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 1999                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                     HOUSE CONCURRENT
                        RESOLUTION
REQUESTING THE OFFICE OF INFORMATION PRACTICES TO COORDINATE A
   COMPREHENSIVE ANALYSIS OF CURRENT PROTECTIONS OF THE PRIVACY
   OF PERSONAL INFORMATION AND TO SUBMIT PROPOSED LEGISLATION
   TO THE 2000 LEGISLATIVE SESSION.



 1       WHEREAS, the multi-billion dollar trade in personal
 2   information -- financial, job related, medical, and lifestyle
 3   -- is one of the fastest growing industries in the world, and
 4   such information is treated, in the private sector, as a
 5   commodity for development, purchase and sale; and
 6   
 7       WHEREAS, personal information fuels an industry devoted to
 8   the thorough tracking, monitoring, and recording of specific
 9   aspects of individuals' lives and their interaction with
10   society, and, in the United States, the person behind that
11   information has few if any rights to review that information
12   for accuracy or to restrict the use of that information; and
13   
14       WHEREAS, other countries, such as those of the European
15   Union, restrict and control the collection and dissemination of
16   sensitive personal information out of respect for a person's
17   personal privacy interests, and the information that is
18   collected must be used for the purpose for which it was
19   collected, and the individual has certain rights to restrict
20   further distribution as well as the right to review the
21   information for accuracy and to correct it as necessary; and
22   
23       WHEREAS, because the European Union's recent directive on
24   the  protection of personal information prohibits the transfer
25   of personally identifiable data to other countries that do not
26   provide an adequate level of privacy protection, communications
27   and trade in this country involving such data could be
28   restricted; and
29   
30       WHEREAS, while the United States has not developed
31   comparable individual privacy protections, Hawaii has a unique
32   constitutional right to privacy, with Article I, section 6 of
33   Hawaii's Constitution stating that the "right of the people to
34   privacy is recognized and shall not be infringed without the
35   showing of a compelling state interest.  The legislature shall
36   take affirmative steps to implement this right"; and

 
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                                  H.C.R. NO.            
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1       WHEREAS, while Chapter 92F, Hawaii Revised Statutes,
 2   contains constraints on governmental collection and
 3   dissemination of information, as well as giving individuals the
 4   right to examine their own records, corresponding constraints
 5   on private business entities are virtually nonexistent; and
 6   
 7       WHEREAS, while certain personal information needs to be
 8   collected to accommodate and further current practices in this
 9   modern age, safeguards need to be in place to ensure that the
10   resulting privacy intrusions are both consented to and
11   minimized to achieve only their intended purpose; and
12   
13       WHEREAS, House Bill No. 1232 and its companion, Senate Bill
14   No. 991 were introduced during the 1999 legislative session to
15   enact the Hawaii Information Privacy Act, and both bills were
16   heard by their referred committees and held in light of
17   concerns raised regarding the bills, specifically the potential
18   negative effects of restricting information exchange on law
19   enforcement, the banking, credit, and insurance industries, and
20   whether such a law would saddle Hawaii businesses with
21   compliance burdens which out-of-state competitors could safely
22   disregard; now, therefore,
23   
24       BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the
25   Twentieth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session
26   of 1999, the Senate concurring, that the Office of Information
27   Practices (OIP), is requested to coordinate a comprehensive
28   analysis of current protections of the privacy of personal
29   information; and
30   
31       BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the analysis include an
32   examination of the ways in which personal information is
33   currently used, what protections are desirable, and proposals
34   which address the concerns of consumers, law enforcement
35   professionals, businesses and others; and
36   
37       BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the OIP is requested to contact
38   and involve other government agencies and concerned private
39   businesses and individuals for information and views on this
40   topic; and
41   
42       BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the OIP submit its report to
43   the Legislature no later than twenty days before the convening
44   of the Regular Session of 2000 inclusive of proposed
45   legislation to fully effectuate Article I, section 7 of
46   Hawaii's Constitution; and

 
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                                  H.C.R. NO.            
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1       BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this
 2   Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Director of the
 3   OIP.
 4 
 5 
 6 
 7                         OFFERED BY:  ____________________________