HI HCR157

Requests the Hawaii State Commission on the Status of Women to establish a task force to study missing and murdered Native Hawaiian women and girls, addressing documented disproportionate rates of violence and sex trafficking affecting this population.

Task force shall investigate the causes of the problem, identify current databases and data collection methods, identify barriers to information sharing, create partnerships to increase reporting and investigations, and recommend legislative improvements.

Task force membership includes voting members from state agencies (Health, Human Services, Courts, Attorney General) and county-level officials, plus nonvoting representatives from seven Native Hawaiian and community service organizations.

Task force must submit a preliminary report with findings and recommendations by twenty days before the 2022 Regular Session and a final report by twenty days before the 2023 Regular Session.

Resolution notes that 77 percent of sex trafficking victims surveyed in 2018 and 64 percent in 2019 were Native Hawaiian, and one in three child sex trafficking victims reported to Child Welfare Services from 2017-2019 were Native Hawaiian.