Bill Text: HI SB1234 | 2012 | Regular Session | Amended

Hawaii Senate Bill 1234 (Prior Session Legislation)

Bill Title: Pornography Offenses Against Children

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-12-01 - Carried over to 2012 Regular Session. [SB1234 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2012-SB1234-Amended.html

STAND. COM. REP. NO. 327

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 1234

S.D. 1

Honorable Shan S. Tsutsui

President of the Senate

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2011

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Public Safety, Government Operations, and Military Affairs and Economic Development and Technology, to which was referred S.B. No. 1234 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PORNOGRAPHY OFFENSES AGAINST CHILDREN,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Amends the offense of promoting pornography for minors to include the dissemination of pornographic material to another minor (under the age of eighteen years) or to a person who represents to be a minor; and

(2) Include the offense of promoting child abuse in the third degree as a felony for which criminal charges may be instituted by written information.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from one state department. Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from two entities. Your Committees received comments on this measure from one entity.

The intent of your Committees is to provide greater protection to children from sexual offenders and predators in the Internet age. While current law prohibits disseminating pornographic material to minors, this measure extends this prohibition to include disseminating pornographic material to a person who represents himself or herself as a minor. This measure would allow state and county law enforcement officers to pose as children online and make out a criminal case when a predator promotes pornography to minors while attempting to exploit them through the Internet.

Testimony indicates that predators meet children through the Internet and entice them to engage in sexual offenses. Grooming children is a key aspect of this predatory behavior. Grooming usually involves conduct to gain the child's trust, develop the relationship, make the child feel comfortable with the offender and the idea of engaging in sexual acts, and ultimately make the child more willing to engage in sexual acts with the offender. Predators engaged in the electronic enticement of children often send their victims pornographic images as part of a scheme to groom child victims for sexual acts.

This measure allows law enforcement officers to pose as children online while investigating internet crimes against children. Predators, believing they are communicating with children, send pornographic images to the officers. This measure allows for the prosecution of child predators who disseminate pornography to officers while attempting to groom children for sexual acts.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to allow for further discussion; and

(2) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Public Safety, Government Operations, and Military Affairs and Economic Development and Technology that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1234, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1234, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Labor.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Public Safety, Government Operations, and Military Affairs and Economic Development and Technology,

____________________________

CAROL FUKUNAGA, Chair

____________________________

WILL ESPERO, Chair