Report Title:

Child Abuse

Description:

Clarifies that Department of Public Safety deputy sheriffs and narcotics enforcement officers, and Department of the Attorney General investigators are required to report child abuse cases. Allows these employees to take a child victim into protective custody.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

2503

TWENTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2004

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

RELATING TO CHILD ABUSE.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. Section 350-1.1, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:

"(a) Notwithstanding any other state law concerning confidentiality to the contrary, the following persons who, in their professional or official capacity, have reason to believe that child abuse or neglect has occurred or that there exists a substantial risk that child abuse or neglect may occur in the reasonably foreseeable future, shall immediately report the matter orally to the department or to the police department:

(1) Any licensed or registered professional of the healing arts and any health-related occupation who examines, attends, treats, or provides other professional or specialized services, including but not limited to physicians, including physicians in training, psychologists, dentists, nurses, osteopathic physicians and surgeons, optometrists, chiropractors, podiatrists, pharmacists, and other health-related professionals;

(2) Employees or officers of any public or private school;

(3) Employees or officers of any public or private agency or institution, or other individuals, providing social, medical, hospital, or mental health services, including financial assistance;

(4) Employees or officers of any law enforcement agency, including but not limited to the courts, police departments, department of public safety, department of the attorney general, correctional institutions, and parole or probation offices;

(5) Individual providers of child care, or employees or officers of any licensed or registered child care facility, foster home, or similar institution;

(6) Medical examiners or coroners; and

(7) Employees of any public or private agency providing recreational or sports activities."

SECTION 2. Section 350-1.1, Hawaii revised statutes, is amended by amending subsection (c) to read as follows:

"(c) The initial oral report shall be followed as soon as possible by a report in writing to the department. If a police department, the department of public safety, or the department of the attorney general is the initiating agency, a written report shall be filed with the department for cases that the police, the department of public safety, or the department of the attorney general take further action on or for active cases in the department under this chapter. All written reports shall contain the name and address of the child and the child's parents or other persons responsible for the child's care, if known, the child's age, the nature and extent of the child's injuries, and any other information that the reporter believes might be helpful or relevant to the investigation of the child abuse or neglect. This subsection shall not be construed to serve as a cause of action against the department [or], the police[.], the department of public safety, or the department of the attorney general."

SECTION 3. Section 587-2, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending the definition of "police officer" to read as follows:

""Police officer" means a person employed by any county in this State to enforce the laws and ordinances for preserving the peace, safety, and good order of the community[.], an employee authorized by the director of public safety under section 329-51 or 353C-4 to exercise the powers of this chapter, or an investigator appointed by the attorney general under section 28-11 and authorized to exercise the powers of this chapter."

SECTION 4. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 5. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2004.

INTRODUCED BY:

_____________________________

BY REQUEST