House panel kills A bill that aims to protect minors from being sexually exploited as strippers died at the state Legislature yesterday after House Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs Chairman Eric Hamakawa refused to hear the bill.
bill aimed to protect
teens from sex
exploitation
The committee chair says
By Lisa Asato
the bill is redundant
and lacked support
Star-BulletinSisters Offering Support, an advocacy group for commercially exploited women and children, said Hamakawa (D, S. Hilo-Puna) single-handedly killed the measure, which SOS contends has broad support among lawmakers.
"All we are asking is what are his reasons for opposing the bill," said Shannon Mar, an SOS peer educator who lobbied for the bill. "We were open to negotiation, but he has refused to meet with us and explain. Why not schedule a hearing and welcome a fair and open democratic debate? Does he condone existing practices that cause thousands of teens to be abused?"
"No, I don't," Hamakawa said. "You already have sex assault laws on the books that address these kinds of situations. If these young teens are being forced into these situations, there is recourse for that."
Senate Bill 864 S.D.2 would have made the commercial sexual exploitation of minors a Class B felony and subjected offenders to forfeit their properties and lose their business licenses. The bill had won unanimous approval on the Senate floor but died yesterday when it did not get a hearing in time for it to advance.
Hamakawa said he was not the only one who objected to the bill. The Big Island and Honolulu police departments and the city prosecutor's office opposed the measure in previous hearings, he said.
"If this was such a great bill, law enforcement would be on board. At this juncture they're not, so there are obviously problems with the bill," he said. "Those problems need to be addressed before the Legislature can move forward."
Kelly Hill, executive director of SOS, said the bill is not perfect but had the support of the Senate and most House committee members. Hill said other lawmakers urged Hamakawa to hear the bill, but to no avail.
SOS has been willing to work with Hamakawa, meet with him and find out why he would not hear the bill, she said, adding, "We have gotten no response."
But Hamakawa said he had a March 27 appointment with Mar, and she never showed up. Mar said that was "miscommunication."
She was told the office would call her to confirm the appointment, but she never received a call and assumed it was off. She said she tried three other times to ask about the bill's status in committee and to reschedule an appointment but was denied.
According to SOS, one in five youths surveyed in local intermediate and high schools report that someone has tried to recruit them into some form of commercial sexual exploitation, specifically offering them money for prostitution, stripping or pornography. The group estimates there are 10,000 minors involved in the sex industry on Oahu.
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