STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1975-26

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2026

RE: S.B. No. 2135

S.D. 2

H.D. 1

Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

Madame:

Your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 2135, S.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PRIVACY,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to establish the offense of nonconsensual disclosure of an intimate image.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Crime Victim Compensation Commission; Hawaii State Commission on the Status of Women; Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu; Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the County of Maui; and three individuals. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of the Attorney General; TechNet; and Imua Alliance.

Your Committee finds that image-based sexual abuse is an increasingly common and devastating form of technology-facilitated harm, in which perpetrators coerce, manipulate, or extort victims by threatening to disclose intimate or private images. Such conduct can result in profound emotional trauma, social isolation, and financial harm, and in some cases may lead to self-harm or suicide. Your Committee further finds that minors and vulnerable adults are particularly susceptible to online exploitation, as perpetrators may leverage anonymity and digital platforms to pressure victims into providing additional images, creating cycles of abuse with severe and, at times, fatal consequences.

Your Committee further finds that H.B. No. 1963, H.D. 2 (Regular Session of 2026), a substantially similar measure, was previously passed by the House.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Deleting its contents and inserting the contents of H.B. No. 1963, H.D. 2, a measure that:

(A) Establishes the nonconsensual disclosure of intimate images or private images as a criminal offense; and

(B) Amends the criteria for an extended term of imprisonment to include an offender whose act of attempting to commit or committing the nonconsensual disclosure of intimate images or private images against a minor or vulnerable adult resulted in the victim's death; and

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

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2135, S.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2135, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs,

____________________________

DAVID A. TARNAS, Chair