STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2744

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2310

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2024

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred S.B. No. 2310 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HARASSMENT,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to prohibit a person from using a location tracker to harass, stalk, or perpetuate a crime against another person without their knowledge.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the County of Maui and four individuals.

Your Committee finds that there are existing statutes that may apply to some of the scenarios involving tracking a person by use of a location tracker. Despite this, your Committee believes that it is important to enact a statute that explicitly identifies and prohibits the behavior when done as a means to harass the person. This measure provides a clear definition of various types of tracking devices, which section 803-42(a)(8), Hawaii Revised Statutes, does not define. Additionally, this measure does not require that the behavior happen on more than one occasion, unlike harassment by stalking pursuant to section 711-1106.5, Hawaii Revised Statutes. This measure updates the penal code to address the serious matter of using a hidden location tracker to harass, stalk, or perpetuate a crime against another person.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Deleting language that would have included harassment by use of location tracker as a violation of privacy in the second degree; and

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

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2310, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2310, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary,

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KARL RHOADS, Chair