Judiciary: Make Reporters' Shield Law Permanent

Chad Blair/Civil Beat

UPDATED 1/11/2012 3:30 p.m.

A Hawaii state judiciary committee is recommending that the Hawaii Legislature make permanent the state's shield law that protects journalists from forced disclosure of sources and notes.

That's good news for those who support First Amendment rights. Hawaii's 2008 shield law, known as Act 210, was to have expired last summer, but lawmakers in the 2011 session extended the sunset date until June 30, 2013.

But the Standing Committee on the Rules of Evidence, a judicial committee that includes judges and others, in a December 2011 report to the Legislature, also suggests that lawmakers "take another look" at sections of the law concerning bloggers, defamation and a journalist's unpublished materials.

Jeff Portnoy, the state's most prominent First Amendment attorney who has been a leading advocate of the shield law, said he was pleased with the committee's recommendation to make the shield law permanent. But he is very concerned about other possible changes to the law.

Portnoy said he would be reluctant to revisit substantive provisions of the shield law, other than making it permanent.

"I think that is unwarranted for any number of reasons — not the least of which that all of the issues raised by the Standing Committee were raised and addressed three years ago when the bill was introduced and debated and ultimately passed," he said.

In particular, Portnoy warned that the loss of protection of a journalist's notes "would gut much of the protection provided to journalists."

"That would be a very significant loss, a giant step backwards," he said.

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