STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1309

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    H.B. No. 561

       H.D. 1

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred H.B. No. 561, H.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO SOCIAL MEDIA,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to amend part I of chapter 378, Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS), to prohibit employers from requiring or requesting employees and potential employees to grant access to personal account usernames and passwords.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Civil Rights Commission, Americans for Democratic Action Hawaii, and American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Chamber of Commerce Hawaii and one individual.

 

     Your Committee finds that a growing number of employers are demanding that job applicants and employees give employers passwords to the employees' private social networking accounts, such as Facebook.  This practice could potentially constitute an unnecessary invasion of privacy.  Accessing a potential employee's social media account by using the applicant's password may expose information about the applicant, such as age, religion, ethnicity, or pregnancy, which an employer is forbidden to ask about.  This measure updates the State's employment discrimination laws to keep pace with technology.

 

     Your Committee notes that the Hawaii Civil Rights Commission suggested that the new protection created under this measure be placed in a new part of chapter 378, HRS, rather than under part I of that chapter because the privacy rights protected under this measure are different from the protected bases that fall under the jurisdiction of the Hawaii Civil Rights Commission.  Your Committee further notes that employment discrimination based on information obtained online is already prohibited under part I of chapter 378, HRS.

 

     Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Adopting the suggestion made by the Hawaii Civil Rights Commission to insert the language that prohibits employers from requiring or requesting employees and potential employees to grant access to personal account usernames and passwords under a new part under chapter 378, HRS;

 

     (2)  Deleting the language that would not hold an employer liable for failure to request or require that an employee or potential employee grant access to a personal account;

 

     (3)  Providing civil penalties for any violation to be deposited into the general fund and allowing a person who alleges a violation to bring a civil action for appropriate injunctive relief or actual damages, or both;

 

     (4)  Inserting an effective date of January 7, 2059, to encourage further discussion; and

 

     (5)  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 Judiciary and Labor that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 561, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 561, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

 


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

 

 

 

________________________________

GILBERT S.C. KEITH-AGARAN, Chair