STAND. COM. REP. NO. 978-16
Honolulu, Hawaii
, 2016
RE: H.B. No. 1902
H.D. 2
Honorable Joseph M. Souki
Speaker, House of Representatives
Twenty-Eighth State Legislature
Regular Session of 2016
State of Hawaii
Sir:
Your Committee on Finance, to which was referred H.B. No. 1902, H.D. 1, entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO SEX TRAFFICKING,"
begs leave to report as follows:
(1) Replacing the offense of Promoting Prostitution in the First Degree with Sex Trafficking, a class A felony and violent crime;
(2) Establishing a class C felony for the act of paying for sex in reckless disregard of the fact that the other person is a victim of sex trafficking;
(3) Specifying that Sex Trafficking is a strict liability offense with respect to the victim's age when the victim of sex trafficking is under 18 years of age;
(4) Providing that when a minor under the age of eighteen commits the act of engaging in or offering to engage in sexual conduct with another person for a fee, it is not a criminal offense, but rather a violation that subjects the minor to the jurisdiction of the family court;
(5) Making amendments to strengthen the enforcement of laws and increase penalties against the sex trafficker;
(6) Expanding the Department of the Attorney General's Statewide Witness Program to include sex trafficking;
(7) Providing victims with access to criminal injury compensation; and
(8) Amending laws relating to civil liability for cases of coercion into prostitution.
Your Committee has amended this measure by:
(1) Changing its effective date to July 1, 2030, to facilitate further discussion; and
(2) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for clarity, consistency, and style.
As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Finance that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1902, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1902, H.D. 2.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Finance,
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____________________________ SYLVIA LUKE, Chair |
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