STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2096

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2318

       S.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2014

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Human Services, to which was referred S.B. No. 2318 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PARENTAL RIGHTS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

     (1)  Prohibit family courts from awarding a person custody of or visitation with a child if the person has been convicted of incest and the child was conceived as a result of that violation; and

     (2)  Authorize the family courts to terminate parental rights, with respect to a child, of a natural father who has been convicted of incest and the child was conceived as a result of the incest.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Sex Abuse Treatment Center and one individual.

     Your Committee finds that state law does not prevent a natural father from claiming paternity rights and obtaining custody of or visitation with a child conceived as a result of incest.  The father is afforded the same rights as any other father despite the incest committed against the victim-mother.  Consequently, any natural father may assert paternity rights, including custody and visitation, forcing a victim-mother to confront the natural father on a recurring basis while raising a child conceived as the result of incest.  These circumstances provide opportunities for the perpetrator to assert power and control again over the victim-mother by using the child.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by making technical, nonsubstantive amendments, including inserting a savings clause, for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Human Services that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2318, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2318, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Labor.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Human Services,

____________________________

SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair