Sex offender Web site may be restored

By Lynda Arakawa
Advertiser Capitol Bureau

Information about convicted sex offenders would be restored to the state Web site, under a bill approved yesterday by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The information, including the street names of where sex offenders live and work, was taken off the state attorney general's Web site in November after the Hawai'i Supreme Court struck down the state's "Megan's Law" requiring convicted sex offenders to notify the public whenever they moved into a community.

The high court said the law violated a defendant's right under the state constitution to due process, privacy, prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment and equal protection under the law.

Senate Bill 2698 would address the Supreme Court's concerns by providing hearings to determine whether a sex offender should be required to register, said Senate Judiciary Chairman Brian Kanno, D-20th ('Ewa Beach, Makakilo, Kapolei).

Kanno said he was told the sex offender Web site was the state's most popular site.

The committee also approved a measure calling for a constitutional amendment that could send certain drug offenders to treatment instead of prison.