STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2166

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 963

H.D. 2

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Health and Human Services, to which was referred H.B. No. 963, H.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CRIMES AGAINST ELDERS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to establish strict liability for crimes against elders with respect to the attendant circumstance that the victim was sixty years of age or older.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Executive Office on Aging, Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu, Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the County of Maui, Office of the Prosecuting Attorney of the County of Hawaiʻi, Honolulu Police Department, AARP Hawaiʻi, Libertarian Party of Hawaii, and two individuals.

Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Office of the Prosecuting Attorney of the County of Kauaʻi.

Your Committee finds that existing criminal statutes intended to protect older adults often require proof that an offender knew or reasonably should have known the victim's age, creating barriers to effective prosecution. Your Committee further finds that removing the state-of-mind requirement across these offenses will improve accountability and better safeguard vulnerable kupuna. This measure strengthens protections for elders by establishing strict liability for offenses in which the victim is sixty years of age or older, including certain assault, unauthorized entry in a dwelling, theft, and forgery offenses.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Raising the strict liability age threshold for assault in the first degree and assault in the second degree from sixty to seventy;

(2) Deleting language that would have established a strict liability age threshold for the crimes of unauthorized entry in a dwelling in the first degree, theft in the first degree, theft in the second degree, forgery in the first degree, and forgery in the second degree;

(3) Inserting an effective date of December 31, 2050, to encourage further discussion; and

(4) 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 Health and Human Services that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 963, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 963, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Health and Human Services,

________________________________

JOY A. SAN BUENAVENTURA, Chair