A few weeks ago, there were eight bills proposed at the Legislature to raise the sexual age of consent in Hawai’i higher than 14. Now, there are two bills left. Senate Bill 711, proposed by Senate President Robert Bunda, an
A few weeks ago, there were eight bills proposed at the Legislature to raise the sexual age of consent in Hawai’i higher than 14.
Now, there are two bills left.
Senate Bill 711, proposed by Senate President Robert Bunda, an Oahu Democrat, would have protected 14 and 15-year-olds. But the compromise bill, passed on to the House March 1, only raised the age of consent to 15.
The bill as originally written was opposed by the Sexual Treatment Center of Oahu and others, including the Honolulu prosecutor’s office.
Kelly M. Rosati, executive director of the Oahu-based Hawai`i Family Forum, strong supporters of a consent age hike, had mixed feelings about the altered bill.
“At least they did something. But I am disappointed, too. A 40-year-old man can still have (consensual) sex with a 15-year-old girl in Hawai`i and it isn’t illegal,” Rosati said.
The other proposed legislation that remains, House Bill 236, would raise the minimum age to 16. That bill, sponsored by Rep. Marilyn Lee, an Oahu Democrat, now includes a rider that exempts an adult having sex with a 14 or 15-year-old if said minor is the adult’s lawfully wedded spouse.
HB 236 also specifies that to be charged, the offender must be at least five years older (19) than the teenage paramour. Non-consensual sex with a child is statutory rape here as elsewhere.
HB 236 passed out of the House Judiciary Committee on March 1. One of the 10 yes votes was cast by Rep. Ezra Kanoho, the 13th District Democrat representing the Waipouli and Lihu`e areas. There were no votes against the measure.
HB 236 passed three readings in the full House March 6 and passed its first reading in the Senate March 8 and has been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee for further tinkering.
“I believe that either bill could work, but I also believe the Senate version has the best chance of passing,” said another Kaua’i legislator, Sen. Jonathan Chun (D-7th District).
Chun said the amended Senate bill makes it illegal for anyone over 18 to have sex with a 14-year-old.
“That was the prosecutor’s idea. A clear-cut age cutoff makes it easier to enforce,” Chun explained.
Six other age-consent-bills fell by the wayside before the March 8 deadline for moving bills from the House to the Senate and vice versa. Those were:
l House Bill 320, which proposed raising the minimum age from 14 to 16 and adding a four-year age rider (18) for first and third-degree sexual assault charges.
l House Bill 162, which would have raised the age of consent from 14 to 18.
l House Bill 1485, which would have raised the minimum age of consent from 14 to 16.
l House Bill 1103, which would have legally prohibited a minor from having consensual sex with anyone five years older than themselves.
l Senate Bill 199, which would have made any “sexual penetration” of a person less than 18 a crime, unless the penetrator was a minor, too.
Staff writer Dennis Wilken can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) and mailto:dwilken@pulitzer.net
