STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2389

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 2123

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Shan S. Tsutsui

President of the Senate

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2012

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Human Services, to which was referred S.B. No. 2123 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HUMAN TRAFFICKING,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to establish and appropriate funds for a program within the Office of Community Services to provide services, in coordination with other relevant state agencies, to survivors of human trafficking.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Human Services, the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, Equality Now, the Hawaii Catholic Community, the Hawaii Coalition Against Domestic Violence, IMUAlliance, the Pacific Alliance to Stop Slavery, the Polaris Project, and two individuals.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney, City and County of Honolulu and the Harm Reduction Hawaii, and one individual.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Office of Community Services, Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.

 

     Your Committee finds that although the State has established programs that provide an array of services for victims of human trafficking, there appears to be a gap in service provided for an individual who is pending certification as a victim of a severe form of trafficking until approved by the federal government.  This measure will alleviate the current gap in service for those waiting for certification by proposing a comprehensive plan coordinating relevant state-funded programs.

 

     Your Committee notes that according to the testimony of the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu, this measure, as currently drafted, imposes reporting requirements and requires sharing of confidential information between law enforcement agencies and the prosecuting attorneys offices that may be inappropriate, harmful, or possibly illegal.  Your Committee also notes that establishing a program to provide services for survivors of human trafficking program under a single agency may be premature.

 

     Your Committee has therefore amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Deleting its contents and inserting language to establish a working group within the Department of the Attorney General to develop a comprehensive state plan to coordinate services for survivors of human trafficking in new and existing communities; and

 

     (2)  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 Human Services that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2123, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2123, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

 

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

 

 

 

____________________________

SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair