STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2227

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2841

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Judiciary and Labor and Technology, to which was referred S.B. No. 2841 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HUMAN TRAFFICKING,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Require the Department of the Attorney General to develop a Human Trafficking Awareness Training Program to educate and train workers in the transient accommodations sector;

(2) Require transient accommodations employers to:

(A) Periodically provide the human trafficking awareness training to certain employees and contract workers;

(B) Keep records of the training;

(C) Post signage; and

(D) Develop and implement a human trafficking prevention policy that includes procedures for the reporting of suspected human trafficking;

(3) Establish penalties; and

(4) Require the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations to adopt rules.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, Department of Law Enforcement, American Hotel and Lodging Association, Hawaiʻi Hotel Alliance, Imua Alliance, and six individuals.

Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Sex Workers Outreach Project of Hawaiʻi.

Your Committees find that human trafficking remains a persistent issue that affects vulnerable individuals in the State's communities. Hotel and lodging staff are uniquely positioned as frontline observers who, with proper training, can recognize potential trafficking situations and alert law enforcement. Your Committees additionally find that early intervention not only prevents victimization but also provides law enforcement with timely information to pursue traffickers and dismantle trafficking networks. This measure will build essential partnerships between law enforcement and private-sector stakeholders who can provide invaluable assistance in identifying trafficking situations before they escalate.

Your Committees note that human trafficking investigations and victim response are inherently law enforcement-driven, and therefore the Department of Law Enforcement would be better suited to serve as the lead operation agency for human trafficking training, in coordination with the Department of the Attorney General and the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. Your Committees further note that several businesses in the transient accommodations sector have already implemented their own human trafficking awareness training programs, and that allowing these outside programs, if approved by the Department of the Attorney General, will better facilitate an industry-wide approach to this issue.

Accordingly, your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Requiring the Department of the Attorney General to develop the Human Trafficking Awareness Program by July 1, 2027;

(2) Allowing externally-developed human trafficking awareness training programs to be used within the transient accommodations sector if the programs meet certain requirements and are approved by the Department of the Attorney General within a certain time;

(3) Requiring the Department of Law Enforcement, rather than the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, to oversee the Human Trafficking Awareness Program in the transient accommodations sector;

(4) Requiring transient accommodations third-party contractors to:

(A) Periodically provide the human trafficking awareness training to certain employees and contract workers, as applicable;

(B) Keep records of the training;

(C) Post signage; and

(D) Develop and implement a human trafficking prevention policy that includes procedures for the reporting of suspected human trafficking;

(5) Requiring transient accommodations employers and transient accommodations third-party contractors to post signage regarding human trafficking awareness by January 1, 2028;

(6) Requiring transient accommodations employers and transient accommodations third-party contractors to develop and implement a human trafficking prevention policy that includes procedures for the reporting of suspected human trafficking by October 1, 2027;

(7) Specifying that transient accommodations third-party contractors shall not be liable for any act or omission arising out of or related to human trafficking with exceptions;

(8) Specifying that the fine for violating the training, signage, policy implementation, and reporting requirements established by this measure is $100 for each separate offense; and

(9) 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 Judiciary and Labor and Technology that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2841, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2841, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Judiciary and Labor and Technology,

________________________________ BRANDON J.C. ELEFANTE, Chair

________________________________ KARL RHOADS, Chair