The state Senate is slated to talk turkey Friday about raising Hawaii’s minimum age of sexual consent from 14 to 16. Since South Carolina raised it’s minimum age of consent from 14 to 15 last year, Hawai’i stands alone as
The state Senate is slated to talk turkey Friday about raising Hawaii’s minimum age of sexual consent from 14 to 16.
Since South Carolina raised it’s minimum age of consent from 14 to 15 last year, Hawai’i stands alone as the only state where adults can legally have sex with children that young.
“This situation is embarrassing for the state,” said Kelly M. Rosati, executive director of the Oahu-based Hawai’i Family Forum.
The Hawai’i senators’ discussion of Senate Bill 711 Friday will begin at 9 a.m., but there are at least 25 bills ahead of it on the agenda.
SB 711 was proposed by Senate President Robert Bunda, an Oahu Democrat.
“That’s our bill,” Rosati said Tuesday.
Rosati said that in a January 2000 survey commissioned by the Family Forum, nearly 75 percent of those polled “strongly” believed the age of consent should be raised.
“I am pretty optimistic at this point. There has been so much community pressure brought to bear. This is a common-sense issue,” Rosati said.
But not everyone agrees. The Oahu County prosecutor’s office spoke out against the bill, as have some social workers on Kaua’i and on other islands.
“I think (the bill) will get through the Senate, and then it goes to the House Judiciary Committee,” Rosati said.
There are multiple House bills on the issue, too, but they are hung up in committee.
The deadline for House bills heading for the Senate is March 8.
Staff writer Dennis Wilken can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) and mailto:dwilken@pulitzer.net
