STAND. COM. REP. NO. 428

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 1527

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2023

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Public Safety and Intergovernmental and Military Affairs and Judiciary, to which was referred S.B. No. 1527 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ADDRESS CONFIDENTIALITY,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Change the governmental entity responsible for the administration of the Address Confidentiality Program from the Office of the Lieutenant Governor to the Department of Law Enforcement, beginning January 1, 2024;

(2) Authorize the Department of Law Enforcement to contract the services of a third party to administer the Address Confidentiality Program; and

(3) Appropriate funds for full-time equivalent positions, operating costs, and equipment to support the Department of Law Enforcement's Criminal Justice Data Center in administering the Address Confidentiality Program.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of the Lieutenant Governor, Department of Law Enforcement, Crime Victim Compensation Commission, Hawai‘i State Coalition Against Domestic Violence, and two individuals.

Your Committees find that the Legislature passed Act 115, Session Laws of Hawaii 2018, and Act 274, Session Laws of Hawaii 2019, to create a program to protect the addresses of survivors of domestic abuse, sexual offenses, or stalking from public record. Your Committees believe that the open nature of the Office of the Lieutenant Governor and the State Capitol creates safety concerns and it is more appropriate to house this program within the Department of Law Enforcement where abusers and stalkers would be deterred from visiting. This measure will keep the physical addresses of survivors of domestic abuse, sexual assault, and stalking confidential by changing the governmental entity responsible for the administration of the Address Confidentiality Program from the Office of the Lieutenant Governor to the Department of Law Enforcement and appropriating funds to support the Department of Law Enforcement in administering the Address Confidentiality Program.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Deleting language that would have authorized the Department of Law Enforcement to contract the services of a third party to administer the Address Confidentiality Program;

(2) Establishing the Address Confidentiality Program Governance Committee to advise the Department of Law Enforcement on the implementation and operation of the program; and

(3) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Public Safety and Intergovernmental and Military Affairs and Judiciary that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1527, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1527, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Public Safety and Intergovernmental and Military Affairs and Judiciary,

________________________________ KARL RHOADS, Chair

________________________________ GLENN WAKAI, Chair