HB1916

SECTION 1. Across the country, elected officials and judges have experienced an alarming increase in acts of violence, or attempts to engage in acts of violence, at their personal residence.

In October 2020, the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation identified a group that planned to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, and the Bureau was able to prevent any harm by arresting those involved.

In July 2020, United States District Court Judge Esther Salas’s son, Daniel Anderl, was shot and killed in their family home by an attorney who had appeared before Judge Salas.

In February 2023, New Jersey Councilwoman Eunice Dwumfour was shot and killed outside her home.

In October 2023, Maryland Judge Andrew Wilkinson was shot and killed in the driveway of his home by a litigant in a case pending before him.

Efforts to ensure security for those public servants whose work involves decision making that directly impacts the public or an individual, such as elected officials and judges, have taken on new urgency given these horrific murders.

The data gathered by the federal courts and the state judiciary illustrates that this trend of threats and inappropriate communications is increasing. United States federal judges and other protected personnel were the targets of more than four thousand five hundred threats and other inappropriate communications in 2021, according to the United States Marshals Service. This represents an increase of eighty‑one per cent from the number of threats in fiscal year 2016, and a two hundred thirty three per cent increase in threats since fiscal year 2008. At the state level, the number of threats and other inappropriate communications to Hawaii judges have increased tenfold since 2012.

The legislature also notes that a recent United States Marshals Service audit found that federal judges' safety is at greater risk when they are away from the courthouse. This statement is borne out by incidents involving attacks against both federal and state judges at their residences, which have resulted in the deaths of or serious injuries to judges and their family members. In multiple cases, the attacker or would‑be attacker used the internet to access judges' personal information.

The legislature finds that Act 46, Session Laws of Hawaii 2022, which established a judicial security task force, was passed in recognition of the need for additional measures to ensure the safety of judges in Hawaii.

Accordingly, the purpose of this Act is to restrict the information published by the government or private entities that identifies the personal residence and other personally identifying information of certain public servants who are at greater risk of harm due to the important decision-making functions associated with their government jobs. This Act will restrict the immediate access to certain types of location and personally identifying information in order to improve the safety and security of certain public servants in Hawaii.

This Act is not intended to restrain public servants from independently making public their own personal information. Nothing in this Act shall be construed to impair free access to decisions and opinions expressed by public servants while carrying out their public functions.

SECTION 2. The Hawaii Revised Statutes is amended by adding a new chapter to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"Chapter

RESTRICTIONS ON PUBLICATION AND DISCLOSURE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION ASSOCIATED WITH CERTAIN PUBLIC SERVANTS

§ -1 Definitions. For purposes of this chapter:

"Covered person" means:

(1) The governor;

(2) The lieutenant governor;

(3) The state administrative director appointed pursuant to section 26-3;

(4) Any head of a state department established under section 26-4;

(5) Any member of the legislature;

(6) Any active, formerly active, or retired:

(A) Justice of the Hawaii supreme court;

(B) Judge of the Hawaii intermediate court of appeals;

(D) Judge of a Hawaii district court or district family court; or

(E) Per diem judge of a Hawaii district court or district family court;

(7) Any active, formerly active, or retired:

(A) Justice of the United States Supreme Court;

(B) Judge of the United States Court of Appeals;

(D) Judge of the United States Bankruptcy Court,

who resides in this State, formerly resided in this State while serving as a federal judge, or owns real property in this State;

(8) The administrative director of the courts; or

(9) The deputy administrative director of the courts.

"Disclose" means to sell, manufacture, give, provide, lend, trade, mail, deliver, transfer, post, publish, distribute, circulate, disseminate, present, exhibit, advertise, or offer by any means including, but not limited to, electronic transmission and on any medium including, but not limited to, the internet, print, and radio.

"Family" means a covered person's spouse, child, adoptive child, foster child, parent, or any unmarried companion of the covered person, or other minor or adult who lives in the same residence of the covered person.

"Government agency" means any department, division, board, commission, public corporation, or other agency or instrumentality of the State or any county.

"Home" means a permanent residence and any secondary residences affirmatively identified by the covered person but does not include a work address or investment property.

"Organization" means an association or entity, including a charitable, religious, or nonprofit organization; for-profit organization; or business entity, formed for a specific purpose. The term excludes any government agency.

"Person" means any private individual not acting on behalf of a government agency.

"Protected personal information" means a home address and any property ownership records pertaining thereto; home telephone number; cellular phone number; direct telephone number to a covered person's private chambers; personal email address; directions to the covered person's or family members' home; photograph of a covered person's home that legibly displays the address; photograph of a covered person's vehicle that legibly displays the vehicle license plate number; the names and locations of schools and day care facilities attended by the children of covered persons; identity of children under the age of eighteen; the contents of any application for absentee voter's ballots; voter registration information; property tax records; and immediate family member's employer.

"Publicly available content" means any written, printed, or electronic document or record that provides information or that serves as a document or record maintained, controlled, or in the possession of a government agency that may be obtained by any person or entity, from the internet, from the government agency upon request either free of charge or for a fee, or in response to a request pursuant to chapter 92F.

"Publicly post or display" means to communicate to another or to otherwise make available to the general public.

"Written request" means written notice signed by a covered person or a representative of the covered person's employer requesting a government agency, person, or organization to refrain from posting or displaying publicly available content that includes the protected personal information of a covered person or their family.

§ -2 Publicly posting or displaying protected personal information of a covered person or their family by a government agency. (a) Except as otherwise provided in section -6, government agencies shall mark as private and shall not publicly post or display the protected personal information of a covered person or their family; provided that the government agency has received a written request that the agency refrain from disclosing such protected personal information; and provided further that:

(1) After a government agency has received a written request, the government agency shall remove the protected personal information from publicly available content no later than seventy-two hours after receiving the request;

(2) After the government agency has removed the protected personal information from publicly available content, the government agency shall not publicly post or display the protected personal information and the protected personal information shall be exempted from the provisions of chapter 92F unless the government agency has received the covered person's written consent to make the protected personal information available to the public; and

(3) If a request is made pursuant to chapter 92F to inspect and copy a public record that contains protected personal information of covered persons or their families that is exempt from disclosure under this section, but also contains information that is not exempt from disclosure, the government agency may elect to redact the protected personal information that is exempt. The government agency shall make the remaining information available for inspection and copying.

(b) If a government agency fails to comply with a written request under subsection (a) to refrain from disclosing protected personal information, the covered person or their family may bring an action seeking injunctive or declaratory relief in any court of competent jurisdiction. No costs or fees shall be awarded.

§ -3 Publicly posting or displaying protected personal information of a covered person or their family by persons and organizations. (a) Except as otherwise provided in section -6, no person or organization shall publicly post or display the protected personal information of any covered person or their family if the person or organization has received a written request that such protected personal information not be disclosed.

(b) After a person or organization has received a written request, that person or organization shall have seventy-two hours to remove the protected personal information from the internet.

(c) After a person or organization has received a written request, that person or organization shall ensure that the protected personal information is not made available on any website or subsidiary website controlled by that person or organization.

(d) After receiving a written request, no person or organization shall transfer the protected personal information to any other person or organization through any medium.

(e) If a person or organization violates this section, the covered person or family member whose protected personal information is made public as a result of the violation may bring an action seeking injunctive or declaratory relief in any court of competent jurisdiction. If the court grants injunctive or declaratory relief, the person or organization responsible for the violation shall be required to pay the costs and reasonable attorney's fees of the covered person or their family.

§ -4 Procedure for completing a written request. (a) Except as otherwise provided in section -5, no government agency, person, or organization shall be found to have violated any provision of this chapter in any circumstance in which a written request has not been submitted to that agency, person, or organization.

(b) A written request shall be valid if the covered person sends a written request directly to a government agency, person, or organization, or a representative from the covered person's employer may submit a written request on the covered person's behalf; provided that the covered person gives written consent to the representative; and provided further that the representative agrees to furnish a copy of that consent when a written request is made.

(c) A written request shall specify what protected personal information shall be maintained private. A written request shall include any secondary residence that the covered person wishes to identify as a home. A written request shall disclose the identity of the covered person's family and indicate what protected personal information of these family members shall also be excluded to the extent that it could reasonably be expected to reveal the protected personal information of the covered person.

(d) A written request is valid until the covered person provides the government agency, person, or organization with written permission to release protected personal information. A written request expires upon the covered person's death.

§ -5 Publicly posting or displaying protected personal information of a covered person or their family; misdemeanor. (a) Except as otherwise provided in section -6, no person shall publicly post or display the protected personal information of a covered person or the covered person's family, in reckless disregard of the risk of intimidation, threats, harassment, injury, harm, or violence to the covered person or the covered person's family.

(b) Any person who violates this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

§ -6 Exceptions. The following exceptions shall apply to the restrictions in this chapter on the disclosure of protected personal information:

(1) Sections -3 and -5 shall not apply to:

(A) The display on the internet of the protected personal information of a covered person or their family if the information is relevant to and displayed as part of a news story, commentary, editorial, or other speech on a matter of public concern; or

(B) Protected personal information that the covered person or their family voluntarily publishes on the internet after the effective date of this chapter;

(2) The bureau of conveyances shall provide unredacted copies of recorded instruments affecting title to real property that contain protected personal information to a title insurance company that has requested to access the record in its ordinary course of business;

(3) The following documents recorded at the bureau of conveyances are exempt from section -2:

(A) Filings made pursuant to the Uniform Commercial Code under chapter 490; and

(B) Recorded judgments;

(4) Records pertaining to property presumed abandoned under chapter 523A, the Uniform Unclaimed Property Act, shall be exempt from this chapter;

(5) Records a government agency provides to any other government entity shall be exempt from section -2; and

(6) Information otherwise subject to redaction or nondisclosure under this chapter may be provided as unredacted upon order of a circuit court.

§ -7 Severability. If any provision of this chapter, or the application thereof to any person or circumstance, is held invalid, the invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications of this chapter that can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this end the provisions of this chapter are severable."

SECTION 3. This Act does not affect rights and duties that matured, penalties that were incurred, and proceedings that were begun before its effective date.

SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect on January 1, 2025.

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________
	By Request

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	1916
THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2024
STATE OF HAWAII