STAND. COM. REP. NO. 770

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2005

RE: H.B. No. 1171

H.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2005

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred H.B. No. 1171 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CRIMINAL IMPERSONATION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to protect an individual's identity by:

(1) Creating the offense of criminal impersonation;

(2) Defining the offense of criminal impersonation as an offense in which a person, while impersonating another, makes or causes to be made, either directly or indirectly, a transmission of any information about the other that the person does not believe to be true, by any oral statement, any written statement, or any statement conveyed by electronic means, with the intent to cause bodily injury to the other person or in reckless disregard of the risk of causing bodily injury to the other person; and

(3) Making the offense of criminal impersonation a misdemeanor.

Concerned individuals testified in support of this measure. The Office of the Public Defender opposed this bill.

Impersonation of individuals and legitimate businesses, especially over the Internet, is a growing problem. Your Committee finds that such action has the potential of not only causing major inconveniences for and disruption of an individual's life, but also of seriously damaging an individual's credibility and reputation. These actions can also severely impact a business's legitimacy and have an enormous economic impact upon that business.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Redefining the offense of criminal impersonation to mean an offense in which a person, with the intent to deceive and harass, annoy, or alarm another, or in reckless disregard thereof, makes or causes to be made, a likeness of that other person which the person knows to be false;

(2) Making the offense of criminal impersonation a petty misdemeanor; and

(3) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for clarity, consistency, and style.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1171, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1171, H.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary,

 

____________________________

SYLVIA LUKE, Chair