STAND.
COM. REP. NO. 1284
Honolulu, Hawaii
, 2021
RE: H.R. No. 12
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 Health, Human Services, & Homelessness, to which was referred H.R. No. 12 entitled:
"HOUSE 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 Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Hawai‘i Children's Action Network Speaks!, Ma‘i Movement Hawai‘i, Ho‘ōla Nā Pua, and Planned Parenthood Votes Northwest and Hawaii.
Your Committee finds that indigenous
women and girls have a greater risk of becoming the 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.
Your Committee has amended this measure by making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.
As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Health, Human Services, & Homelessness that is attached to this report, your Committee concurs with the intent and purpose of H.R. No. 12, as amended herein, and recommends that it be referred to your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs in the form attached hereto as H.R. No. 12, H.D. 1.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Health, Human Services, & Homelessness,
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____________________________ RYAN I. YAMANE, Chair |
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