Bill Text: HI HB1220 | 2024 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating To Public Safety.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2023-12-11 - Carried over to 2024 Regular Session. [HB1220 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2024-HB1220-Introduced.html
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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
H.B. NO. |
1220 |
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THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2023 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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A BILL FOR AN ACT
Relating to public safety.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
The legislature further finds that more appropriate remedies and more substantial penalties are particularly important where among the most frequently targeted groups of these increased attacks are women and members of disenfranchised minority communities, both ethnic as well as sexual, and where their complaints as to the same have gone largely unheeded, leaving them feeling victimized and vulnerable.
The purpose of this Act is to:
(1) Prohibit cyber harassment and cyberstalking; and
(2) Allow for civil liabilities and injunctions for cyber harassment and cyberstalking.
SECTION 2. Chapter 603, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:
"§603-
Action to enjoin
violation of section 711- .
(a) Any
person may maintain an action to enjoin a continuance of any act in violation
of section 711- .
(b) A person who is the victim of
cyber harassment or cyberstalking, or the parent or legal guardian of a minor
child who is living at home, who seeks an injunction for protection against
cyber harassment or cyberstalking on behalf of the minor child has standing in
the court to file a petition for an injunction for protection against cyber harassment
and cyberstalking.
(c) The cause of action for an
injunction for protection may be sought regardless of whether any other cause
of action is currently pending between the parties. However, the pendency of any cause of action
shall be alleged in the petition.
(d) The cause of action for an
injunction does not require either party to be represented by an attorney.
(e) The court shall not issue
mutual orders of protection; however, the court is not precluded from issuing
separate injunctions for protection against cyber harassment and cyberstalking
if each party has complied with section 711- . Compliance with section
711- shall not be waived.
(f) In addition to orders of
protection, the court may also issue an order of no-contact, which may include
an absolute prohibition on referencing or alluding to the aggrieved person via
any electronic device or social networking site. This relief may include, at the court's
discretion, an order to delete any and all offending accounts owned or
accessible by the perpetrator through any electronic device."
SECTION 3. Chapter 663, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:
"§663- Cyber harassment and cyberstalking
liability. In addition to criminal penalties, an
aggrieved person may initiate a civil action against any person or entity who
violates section 711- in order to obtain all appropriate relief,
including but not limited to the following:
(1) Monetary damages, including punitive
damages; and
(2) Reasonable attorneys' fees and costs."
SECTION 4. Chapter 711, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:
"§711- Cyber harassment and cyberstalking. (1) A person commits the offense
of cyber harassment and cyberstalking if, while making one or more electronic
communication via any electronic device or through any social networking site,
and with the purpose of harassing, intimidating, tormenting, or embarrassing
another, the person communicates or causes to be communicated, posts or causes
to be posted, displays or causes to be displayed, or distributes or causes to
be distributed information that:
(a) Threatens or alludes to the
infliction of injury or physical harm to the victim, to any person related to,
or affiliated with the victim, or to the personal property of the victim;
(b) Contains false statements
concerning the death, injury, illness, disfigurement, indecent conduct, or
criminal conduct of the victim;
(c) Contains lewd, indecent, or obscene
material to or about the victim that would emotionally harm a reasonable person
or place a reasonable person in fear of physical or emotional harm to their
person; or
(d) Entices, excites or aggravates any
other person to engage in a similar type of conduct as stated in paragraphs (a),
(b), and (c).
(2) Cyber harassment and cyberstalking is a
misdemeanor for the first offense and a class C felony for the second or
subsequent offense.
(3) Prosecution under this section does not
preclude prosecution under any other law.
Nothing in this section is intended to affect any civil remedies
available for a violation of this section.
(4) Any person, including any minor under the age
of eighteen, who is adjudicated delinquent for cyber harassment or
cyberstalking, may be ordered by the court as a condition of the sentence (in
the event the person is a minor under the age of eighteen, then accompanied by
a parent or guardian), to complete, in a satisfactory manner, one or both of
the following:
(a) A class or training program
intended to reduce the tendency toward cyber harassment behavior; or
(b) A class or training program
intended to bring awareness to the dangers associated with cyber-harassment.
Any
person, including any parent or guardian who fails to comply with a condition
imposed by the court pursuant to this subsection, shall be fined not more than
$500 for a first offense and not more than $1,000 for each subsequent offense.
(5) The court may infer that a person acted with
a purpose to harass another within the meaning of this section if the person
knows or should have known that any of the person's actions constitute an
offense herein.
(6) For purposes of this section:
"Course
of conduct" means a pattern of conduct composed of a series of acts over a
period of time, however short, which evidences a continuity of purpose.
"Electronic
communication" means any transfer of signs, signals, writing, images,
sounds, data, or intelligence of any nature transmitted in whole or in part by
a wire, radio, electromagnetic, photoelectronic, or photo-optical system.
"Electronic
device" includes telephones, cell phones, computers, internet web pages or
sites, internet phones, e-mail, text messages, video messages, personal data
assistants, video recorders, fax machines, and any and all other devices
capable of transmitting data or sending signals to another.
"Harass"
means a knowing and wilful course of conduct directed at a specific person that
a reasonable person would consider as seriously alarming, seriously annoying,
seriously tormenting, or seriously terrorizing and that serves no legitimate
purpose.
"Social
networking site" means an internet website, the primary purpose of which
is facilitating social interaction with other users of the website and has the
following capabilities:
(a) Allows users to create web pages or
profiles about themselves that are available to the general public or to any
other users; and
(b) Offers a mechanism for communication
among users."
SECTION 5. This Act does not affect rights and duties that matured, penalties that were incurred, and proceedings that were begun before its effective date.
SECTION 6. New statutory material is underscored.
SECTION 7. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
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INTRODUCED BY: |
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Report Title:
Cyber Harassment; Cyberstalking; Prohibition; Civil Liabilities; Injunction
Description:
Prohibits
cyber harassment and cyberstalking. Allows
for civil liabilities and injunctions for cyber harassment and cyberstalking.
The summary description
of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is
not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.
