HB2560 HSCR88-02

 

STAND. COM. REP. NO.88-02

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2002

RE: H.B. No. 2560

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2002

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Public Safety and Military Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 2560 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO SEXUAL OFFENSES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to:

(1) Include employees of private companies working in correctional facilities in sexual offense statutes that prohibit sexual penetration and sexual contact with imprisoned persons or a person confined to a detention facility; and

(2) Expand sexual assault protection to inmates placed in private correctional facilities operating in the State of Hawaii.

The Department of Public Safety, the Community Alliance on Prisons, the American Civil Liberties Union Hawaii, and a concerned citizen testified in support of this measure.

Your Committee finds that given the inherent power imbalance between imprisoned persons and staff at correctional facilities, there can be no truly consensual sexual contact between such parties. This measure closes a loophole in existing statutes and thereby provides needed protection to persons under the custody of the state.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Public Safety and Military Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2560 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Public Safety and Military Affairs,

 

____________________________ NESTOR GARCIA, Chair