LIHU‘E — A controversial bill dealing with liability in injuries and deaths of tourists while trespassing private property advanced Tuesday after passing the Tourism Committee in the state House of Representatives.
“We’ve been talking about this for many years,” said Committee Vice Chair Rep. Jimmy Tokioka, D-Kapa‘a-Lihu‘e. “People should be responsible when they make money off of other people.”
House Bill 548 holds authors and publishers of visitor websites and publications liable for readers who suffer injury or death as a result of being enticed to trespass. The bill also frees property owners from liability.
Tokioka said an amendment introduced Tuesday to the bill removed the criminal part of it. The bill will now go through the Judiciary Committee.
Sen. Ron Kouchi, D-Kaua‘i-Ni‘ihau, co-introduced Senate Bill 1207, a bill almost identical to HB 548. SB 1207 will be heard at 1:15 p.m. today by the Economic Development and Technology Committee.
Written testimony submitted by the Media Coalition and the Association of American Publishers called SB 1207 and its companion bills unconstitutional.
“Because such as statute or any similarly worded law would inevitably be struck down on First Amendment grounds, we urge the Legislature to consider alternative measures to deter illegal conduct,” the AAP stated.
AAP is the national trade association of the United States publishing industry, with 280 member publishing houses.
The Media Coalition said the legislation raises serious constitutional problems.
“If enacted, SB 1207 will suppress speech protected by the First Amendment,” the coalition stated.
Tokioka, who co-introduced HB 548, also co-introduced HB 552, a similar bill referred on Jan. 28 to the Judiciary and to the Water, Land and Ocean Resources committees.
Kouchi also co-introduced SB 1208, a companion bill to HB 552. SB 1208 was referred on Jan. 26 to the EDT and to the Judiciary and Labor committees.
Tokioka said a Mainland woman, whose father drowned at Queen’s Bath, called him recently and thanked him for co-introducing the bill. The woman’s father went to the popular North Shore attraction after reading about it in a guidebook.
