STAND.
COM. REP. NO. 1513
Honolulu, Hawaii
, 2021
RE: S.B. No. 834
S.D. 1
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 Consumer Protection & Commerce, to which was referred S.B. No. 834, S.D. 1, entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CHILDLIKE SEX DOLLS,"
begs leave to report as follows:
Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney for the County of Maui, Office of the Prosecuting Attorney for the County of Hawai‘i, Honolulu Police Department, Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu, Ho‘ōla Nā Pua, and five individuals.
Your Committee finds that the widespread availability of childlike sex dolls, which are designed to look and feel as lifelike as possible, enables the exploitation, objectification, abuse, and sexual assault of minors. Your Committee finds that the possession of a childlike sex doll correlates with other offenses perpetrated against children and may reinforce pedophilic thoughts and cause those thoughts to be acted upon with greater urgency. Your Committee recognizes the necessity of taking action to prohibit childlike sex dolls in the State. This measure will help protect the State's children from the serious risk to public safety associated with these objects by establishing the felony offense of importation, sale, or possession of a childlike sex doll.
Your Committee has amended this measure by:
(1) Lowering the threshold for the number of childlike sex dolls in a person's possession before the offense increases from a class C felony to a class B felony from ten to five;
(2) Specifying that childlike sex dolls are those that resemble a person below the age of eighteen years, rather than below the age of puberty; and
(3) Changing the effective date to January 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion.
As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 834, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 834, S.D. 1, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce,
|
|
|
____________________________ AARON LING JOHANSON, Chair |
|
|
|
|