Hawaii Gov. Josh Green is considering whether to sign a bill that would restore reporters' right to withhold their sources and unpublished information from courts.
The prior, 2008 shield law sunsetted in 2013.
According to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Wyoming is the only other state without a law protecting journalists in this manner. The House Committee on the Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs added clarification that the law applies to "digital news sites" and the Senate Committee on the Judiciary added a provision that makes it clear that the privilege attaches to journalists, but not to their sources.
“There are hundreds of bills that are on the governor's desk, but all bills must undergo a thorough legal and fiscal review in addition to the governor's assessment on whether the bill constitutes good public policy, " Green's director of communications, Makana McClellan, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser in a statement. "As such, even if there are bills that it would seem he would agree with on its face, it must still be determined that there are no unintended fiscal implications and there are no legal or constitutional infirmities.”
The bill would protect traditional, non-traditional and online journalists, the Star-Advertiser reported. It limits “compelled disclosure of sources or unpublished information.”
The deadline for Green to sign the bill into law is July 11. Green must inform state Lawmakers by June 26 if he plans to reject the bill.
The bill was introduced in the House by Speaker Scott Saiki. A companion bill was sponsored in the state’s senate by Sen. Les Ihara Jr.
“I am hopeful that HB1502 will be enacted and used by the Media Council and other journalist groups to engage the public on the role of media in American democracy," Ihara told the Star-Advertiser.
Jeffrey S. Portnoy, a First Amendment attorney and member of the committee that pushed for the 2008 law, told the Star-Advertiser, "It is a tribute, frankly, to this legislature that after all these years it has agreed to reinstate the shield law."