HONOLULU, Hawaii – The lawmaker who authored a bill to outlaw revenge porn in Hawaii applauded an agreement reached in conference committee on Thursday.

State Representative John Mizuno expressed his thoughts in this House media release:

Vice Speaker John Mizuno (Kamehameha Heights, Kalihi Valley, and Lower Kalihi), the author of HB1750, the revenge porn bill, provided, “I applaud the House and Senate Judiciary Chairs and conferees for passing HB1750, to make it a crime to distribute, transmit or display photos, images or videos of sexual representation or nude photos without the consent of the person represented. With technology comes different crimes, today our Judiciary conferees passed a very important and progressive bill to address a gap in the law and criminalize such offensive crimes.”

Mizuno added, “The consequences of posting private images with the intent to hurt the person in such publications is degrading, humiliating, career threatening and at times may cause the person to commit suicide.” A 15-year old girl in California committed suicide after nude photos were posted of her and a 17-year old Brazilian girl, who was reportedly the victim of revenge porn, also committed suicide.

HB1750 will go to a full House and Senate vote on Tuesday, April 29, 2014.

According to Rep. Mizuno, “The Hawaii State Legislature will have the opportunity to pass major legislation to address this type of hate crime. I believe my colleagues will support this bill and after it goes to the Governor, we could become the third state in the nation to have such legislation, behind California and New Jersey.”

Office of Representative John Mizuno