STAND. COM. REP. NO.  720

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2013

 

RE:   H.B. No. 1068

      H.D. 1

 

 

 

 

Honorable Joseph M. Souki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2013

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committees on Judiciary and Consumer Protection & Commerce, to which was referred H.B. No. 1068 entitled:

 

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

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure is to improve public awareness of services available to victims of human trafficking by, among other things:

 

(1)  Requiring specified establishments to post information relating to the National Human Trafficking Information Resource Center Hotline;

 

(2)  Requiring the information to be printed in English on a poster no smaller than a specified size;

 

(3)  Defining the term "establishment"; and

 

(4)  Imposing a fine for failing to abide by the posting requirements.

 

     The City and County of Honolulu Emergency Medical Services Division, Polaris Project, and a concerned individual supported this measure.  The Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, IMUAlliance, Pacific Alliance to Stop Slavery, and two concerned individuals provided comments.

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

 

(1)  Requiring that every employer, rather than specified establishments, display in a conspicuous place a poster containing the information relating to the National Human Trafficking Resource Center Hotline;

 

(2)  Clarifying that a conspicuous place is where the information can be observed readily "on the way to or from the employee's place of employment";

 

(3)  Removing the definition of the term "establishment";

 

(4)  Allowing the Director of Labor and Industrial Relations to supplement the required information;

 

(5)  Specifying that any employer, rather than the establishment that fails to abide by the posting requirements, shall be fined; and

 

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

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Judiciary and Consumer Protection & Commerce that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1068, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1068, H.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Judiciary and Consumer Protection & Commerce,

 

 

____________________________

ANGUS L.K. McKELVEY, Chair

 

____________________________

KARL RHOADS, Chair