STAND. COM. REP. 2012

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2004

RE: S.B. No. 2164

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2004

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Human Services, to which was referred S.B. No. 2164 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CHILD ABUSE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to require members of the clergy to report cases of child abuse to the police or the Department of Human Services, with the exception of information gained through confidential clergy communications.

Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the Department of Human Services, Child Welfare Services, the United Methodist Church, Christian Science Committee on Publication, the Hawaii Catholic Conference, the Sex Abuse Treatment Center, Hawaii Coalition Against Sexual Assault, Friends of the Children's Justice Center of Maui, Maui Academy of Performing Arts and a private individual.

Your Committee finds that members of the clergy have a responsibility and a duty to provide information that will ensure the safety and well-being of a child who has been abused and neglected. Currently, thirty-eight states include clergy in their reporting laws and many of the testifiers have indicated that this is already a common practice among their members.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Human Services that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2164 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs.

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

____________________________

SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair