STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1582

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.R. No. 164

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 Health and Human Services, to which was referred S.R. No. 164 entitled:

"SENATE RESOLUTION URGING THE UNITED STATES INDO-PACIFIC COMMAND TO MORE PROACTIVELY COMBAT VIOLENCE AGAINST CIVILIAN WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN HAWAI‘I BY MAKING A ZERO-TOLERANCE COMMITMENT, SHARING GENDER‑BASED VIOLENCE PREVALENCE DATA WITH THE STATE GOVERNMENT, AND LAUNCHING AN ANTI-COMMERCIAL SEXUAL EXPLOITATION PROGRAM ACROSS ALL HAWAI‘I MILITARY INSTALLATIONS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to urge the United States Indo-Pacific Command to more proactively combat violence against civilian women and children in Hawaii by making a zero-tolerance commitment, sharing gender-based violence prevalence data with the state government, and launching an anti-commercial sexual exploitation program across all Hawaii military installations.

Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Human Services.

Your Committees find that according to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Office of the Special Representative and Coordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, the United States military is consistently a substantial contributor to fueling sex trafficking and sexual exploitation through the practice of buying sex. Since 2018, the Hawaii State Commission on the Status of Women has been leading state government efforts to expose and address the connection between the military and sex trafficking in Hawaii. However, the Hawaii State Commission on the Status of Women does not have ready access to data critical to implementing sex trafficking prevention. Your Committees believe that the Hawaii State Commission on the Status of Women can assist in developing an anti-trafficking response that is gender transformative and victim-centered. This measure seeks to address and reduce sex buying, sex trafficking, child sexual abuse material consumption, and child sexual exploitations in the State.

Your Committees have amended this measure by 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 Health and Human Services that are attached to this report, your Committees concur with the intent and purpose of S.R. No. 164, as amended herein, and recommend its adoption in the form attached hereto as S.R. No. 164, S.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Public Safety and Intergovernmental and Military Affairs and Health and Human Services,

________________________________ JOY A. SAN BUENAVENTURA, Chair

________________________________ GLENN WAKAI, Chair