 Hello, and welcome to Finding Respect in the Chaos on Think Tech Hawaii. I am so happy to have you here with me today. I am also very happy to introduce my guest, Senator Laura Thielen. Thank you so much for coming. I really appreciate having you here today. Well, thank you for inviting me. There's so much going on too, but first, can you tell us a little bit about yourself please, and how all of the things that we'll be talking about sort of came to happen. Well, I grew up in Hawaii. My mother had quit college at age 19 to marry my dad, and she had three of us kids fairly quickly, and then a fourth later on. And she decided to go back to school because she had promised her mother that she would finish college one day. And she started going back to University of Hawaii when I was in grade school. So it was a real role model change for me, and seeing her do that, she got very active in the Women's Studies program. And then she decided that she wanted to help people, and she applied to law school. And University of Hawaii had their first law school class at that time. And they said, we're not going to waste a place on you because you're a 40-year-old housewife, and you're not going to do anything. So she got accepted to a law school in Ohio in Cleveland, and I was in ninth grade at the time. And she asked me to go with her to keep her company. And so we both went to Cleveland for the first semester of her law school. I went to public school there, and she went to law school. And then she came back at Christmas and told the Dean of Admission that he had to let her in to U-H law school because it was tearing her family apart. So they let her transfer. And they did. Oh, good boy. They did. And she changed their whole opinion of what a 40-year-old housewife could do. That's right. She showed them. I love it. So she graduated from law school. At the same time, I graduated from high school. But it was just a real showing to me about what you could do. So I went off to the mainland, to college, and then worked in the like. In Colorado, yeah? I graduated from Colorado, but I moved around quite a bit. I was restless. I ultimately came back to Hawaii in 91. And at that point, she was in the legislature. But I followed her footsteps and did a lot of work. I was a lawyer also, worked in private practice, legal aid. But also kind of had that desire to make bigger changes. You're still doing some things with legal aid now, aren't you? Are you still part of that? I'm not a part of it, but I'm an alumni. And so I do work with them and with others on a lot of equal justice and taking a look at providing fair opportunities and equal opportunities to low-income people. There's a lot of things that middle-class people have, like mortgage deductions that allow us to have gaining kind of a capital in retirement in the homes that we own and having a stability that lower-income people don't have access to. So what can we do to offset that and give people equal opportunity there is really important. That is important. Being one of those low-income people, I appreciate everything that you do. I think that's really wonderful. I love your mom. I think she's amazing. And at the breakfast, just the other day, I love to hear Sam a liberal Republican. Yeah, it's an endangered species. There's not very many of those. And now she sort of took on the All Boys Club, which I try to refer to them as the old panel of old white guys, but I think that's really amazing that she back then even stood up for herself and said, you know, wait a minute, just because I'm 40, doesn't mean I'm useless. Well, you know, it was a time where there was a lot of activity in Hawaii for social justice. So you had the whole Native Hawaiian Renaissance, and she was the lawyer for the Patekahu'u Lave Ohana. I was able to go on a couple access, you know, thanks to her in high school. And she also helped fund or start the women's studies program at University of Hawaii. And there were a lot of pioneers at that stage coming out as lawyers and in other professions. So Anne Kobayashi, Carol Fukunaga, Maisie Hirono, Anel Amaral, you know, all those women, they helped make a tremendous amount of change. And they were the ones that started the women's legislative caucus. And that's what the breakfast was all about. Just the other day when you guys released all the bills and showed us what your package is going to be as you go forward in this session, which I think is really amazing. And Maisie Hirono was actually slated to be there as the guest, one of the keynote speaker and sort of dedicated to her, but she had to leave at the last minute and run back to Washington with all the crazy stuff that's going on there. Yeah, unfortunately, but we dedicated the package this year to her. In the past, we dedicated it to pioneers like Patsy Mink, who helped create the Title IX. Judge Betty Vitusic, who had passed away, but she was a phenomenal pioneer in the judiciary for women. And so this year to Senator Maisie Hirono is one of the co-founders of the women's legislative caucus and who's still fighting today in Washington, D.C. Right. She's our advocate over there in Washington. I love that. I have big dreams, right? I'm going to see if I can get her to come on the show one time when she's here in Hawaii. That would be great. We'll see if it'll work out, you know. But it was amazing to see all of the people there at the women's legislative caucus breakfast the other day. There must have been, what, 150 people, maybe more there? We had, every year, when we have the breakfast that announces our legislative package at the YWCA of Richard Street, there's a woman over at St. Andrews Priory who brings over the junior and senior class. So we had 60 students from St. Andrews Priory. And that, to me, was amazing. I think we have a picture of that even with all the kids there. There's some more of the breakfast pictures, but there's one that shows all of the kids from that St. Andrews Priory that were there. I think if you show one more, we'll get to the one that I know I told you only if we have time, but we have time. And since we're talking, there it is. There we go. Look at them all. 60 girls. That is so impressive. I absolutely love seeing that. At the Priory, the teacher who brings them over, she has them take a look at the package beforehand. And last year, several of them submitted testimony and they followed legislation that we had done in the package. And we've offered, you know, for them and other students that are interested to have internships at our offices or, you know, to try and help bring up the next generation of women leaders. So I have one high school student in my office this session who's coming in a couple mornings a week. And other sessions we've had people to, and it's just been a great opportunity. Oh, I love hearing that. I had a little girl on not too long ago who's the Miss Teen Hawaii Pearl City High School and her platform is human trafficking. And that's all she's really focusing on. And she's following the chosen package where she really talks about how high school kids even are being targeted. So to have any high school kid be able to get access to this kind of exposure and to learn these kinds of things and then bring it back with them to school and to be able to tell their friends. And I think that's just such an important thing because until we make the changes with the younger generation, we're not going to really make the changes that we need to make long term anyway, right? So our women's legislative caucus is one of the oldest in the nation because it has been in operation for about 30 years. Oh, wow. Okay. Recently when these, some things were going through where we were seeing that the sex assault or rape kits were not being tested nationally as well as in Hawaii. We reached out to the women on the Honolulu City Council, all of whom are former women legislators and members of the caucus. And we said, you know, the police and the prosecutors are at the city and county level where the judiciary is at the state level, you know, can we work together to make sure that some of these things get into place? And so we began to work with them and then reached out to the women and the other county councils and have an informal alliance working together. But we also reached out to the University of Hawaii through the women's studies program as well as like to St. Andrews Priory and high schools to say we need more of the younger women coming in and working with us as interns to demystify the legislative process. They may run for office later or they may be in other careers or professions, but then they can come to the legislature knowing how it works and lobby for changes or testify on things, stop bad things from happening is equally important to getting good things passed. Well, your website is wonderful for that. It's very comprehensive. It's very easy to follow. It's very informative. I was really impressed when I went on there to sort of look around and see what's on there. It's easy to follow things. You have really step by step. If you want to appear, you want a written testimony or if you want to come and give a verbal testimony, how to do it. And I thought that was really impressive because I would like to come and say a few things. And I'm like, wow, now I know how. And so I really encourage people to go out there and explore her website because there's all the things you need to know on how to follow a bill, how to sort of lobby for one that you want, how to make a testimony, a written testimony, an in-person testimony. I thought that was really helpful. I really want to thank you for doing that and the way you put it together is really nice. Yeah. I think it's really important for those of us that are elected in office not only to represent people, but also make it easy for people to speak for themselves, whether they agree with us or not. And so we put a lot of time into the website to just make sure that people, if they want to access the legislature, there's tips on how do you do it, sample testimony, linking them to the public access room at the state capitol so they can get help. Just all of that is important because we want to spread that knowledge of how to advocate. Because then the citizens that are more active, I think we end up with better decisions. I agree, absolutely agree. So I know that you always have the women's legislative breakfast, right? The clock is breakfast every year. But last year there was something really special that you guys did, going out to each island and interviewing some of the people that are involved from the judiciary all the way down to the victims. And I'd love it if you would share some of that with the audience. That would be great. Well, you know, it's hard a lot of times during this session to come up with solutions when there's a lot of conflicting opinions about how things should happen because it's such a short period of time. So we decided as a women's caucus last interim, which is a time in between sessions, to do around the, to the four major counties to talk about what should be done around our laws on domestic violence. We've seen a reduction in domestic violence, but it's still stubbornly persisting. So how can we make those changes? So we asked the Chief Justice of the Judiciary, Mark Rectumwald, and the Attorney General to co-sponsor these meetings with us, and we held meetings on Big Island, Maui, Kauai, and Oahu, where we gathered the judges who worked in family court, the Attorney Generals, the prosecutors, the police departments that were involved in the arrests and prosecutions, and the public defender. And we began each meeting with the local advocates bringing in some of the survivors, and they had a chance to talk where we all listened about what their experience was in court, both in trying to get a civil restraining order as well as going through the criminal process if there was one. Isn't the restraining order issue kind of a big part of all this? Wasn't that sort of something that sifted down through all of that, was people are having a terrible time getting these TROs enforced? Yeah. And while even getting them, and what was really interesting was when we sat there and listened, a lot of the survivors were talking about the amount of time it takes for somebody to decide to get a restraining order because of the stigma, because of the fact that sometimes it's family and it's tearing the family apart. And then the amount of times they would have to go back to court for the hearings because they're waiting for the order to be served and they're having to take time off of work and, you know, the boss is getting a little impatient and things like that. So after hearing that, the judges, every single meeting, they said, we have to change how we're doing things. We have to make the court more accessible to people. We have to make sure it's safe so that there's a physical separation of people while they're waiting for the hearing. And we had to be sensitive to what's going on. And so the judiciary was phenomenal in implementing changes right away. Wow. You know, I think this stuff is so important, especially that kind of stuff, to really get every element that's in the chain, right? To get on board with all this and to understand. I know that Marcy Lopes over at DVAC is starting to really work with getting some more training for the policeman because from what I understand, they have one training session and then that's it. And they don't go back like every month or keep learning stuff and things change and I think that's a really important thing. Right now we need to take a break. We're going to be right back though, so I hope you'll stay with us. And Aloha. My name is Calvin Griffin, the host of Hawaii in Uniform. And every Friday at 11 o'clock here on Think Tech Hawaii, we bring into the latest in what's happening within the military community. And we also invite all of your response to things that's happening here. For those of you who haven't seen the program before, again, we invite your participation. We're here to give information, not disinformation, and we always enjoy response from the public. But join us here, Hawaii in Uniform, Fridays, 11 a.m. here on Think Tech Hawaii. Aloha. Hi. I'm Lisa Kimura. I'm the host of Family Affairs on Think Tech Hawaii. Join us every Tuesday at 11 a.m. to talk about the issues that really matter. Starting from policies that need to be changed in Hawaii to the fact that we need better gender equality so that we can all have a better shot. Again, join us every Tuesday at 11 on Think Tech Hawaii for Family Affairs. Aloha. Welcome back to Finding Respect in the Chaos. I'm Cynthia Leeson-Clarin. I'm here with Senator Laura Thielen. And we are talking about the new bill package that has come out from the women's legislative caucus. And I think that is so important. Right before we went over to break, though, we were starting to talk about a new program, training program. And you had, during the break, we talked a little bit about how that's changed and what's happened with that. And I think that everybody would like to know about that part. Well, we're thrilled on domestic violence. People are recognizing at all levels that they need to be able to recognize when this violence has occurred and how to intervene in a way where early, where perhaps the behavior could be changed and nipped in the bud. And in more extreme cases, how to intervene in a way to make sure that the survivor is going to be safe because the most dangerous time for a victim of domestic violence is when they try to leave. So we recently worked with the ambulance services for all four counties and the KCC training program for the EMS workers and domestic violence action center. They're going to be incorporating training to be able to recognize signs of domestic violence and how to safely refer people for assistance. And that will begin, they're doing the training materials now. So for the 2019 class of EMTs, as well as the people going back for their recertification training, we'll have that. So it's just been, they've been wonderful working together. That is amazing. I love hearing this stuff kind of gives me chicken skin. Yeah. Okay. Before we, I want to run out of time and I want to make sure we get to some of these bills that are in this package. You know, this is a bipartisan effort. There are seven senators and 17 representatives and it's from across all the islands and from all, you know, Republicans and Democrats, it's very bipartisan. And I think that is an important factor because what you can show the rest of the country, hey, we can work together and get things done. Yeah. Right. And I think that's so important. We need to reach across those partisan lines, not just for this stuff, but for everything. So let's break this down. Okay. So we have 10 bills, we have 10 bills each year. And the way the package is picked is they, in addition to the women's legislative caucus, which is all the women legislators, the founders created the women's coalition, which are organizations that provide advocacy and other services for women, children and families. So the coalition will, as a group, work over ideas for legislation. A lot of them are working in these areas. They know where there's gaps in legislation and what needs to be done. They will forward a list of bill proposals that they, as a group, have agreed to prioritize. Then the women legislators may submit more ideas ourselves that we gather from various other organizations or individuals or our own experience. And then the women legislators will vote on which bills that we want in the package. Oh, my goodness. How many do you start with? Well, it depends. It varies from year to year. Okay. But we may have a list of, you know, 30 bills or 50 bills or the like. We're looking for the top 10 that have 75% of our members' support or more. And so, I mean, this is really a list of ideas and topics that have had a lot of vetting each year. And so then we go into the legislative session where there's a lot of consensus. A lot of eyes have looked at this and agreed that these are needs that need to be met. And then people that are going to come in to testify. And every bill can be improved. So we recognize that, you know, there's improvements and there may be alternative bills that, you know, we end up switching over to those during the session. But just generally, our package focuses a lot on women and children's health. Okay. Reducing violence. You've got it like sort of separated here. So we've got women's health and there's two bills for that. And I think the midwife one is kind of an, is an unusual, important one, though, too. I'd like you to talk about that one if you don't mind. Sure. So apparently midwives in Hawaii used to be a regulated profession. And for some reason, the regulations sunsetted or stopped after a number of years. A lot of people are choosing midwives for at-home births. And we just want to make sure that it's, people are, you know, trained, that it's a safe process. And so there's been, because there's been disagreement about how to license midwives, like doctors are licensed, nurses are licensed, you know, what's the appropriate way with midwives. We hadn't found a, a agreeable solution. So over this last year, there was a working group set up from a variety of perspectives. And this is the legislation that came out of it. It probably doesn't have 100% agreement, but very few bills do. So it's- It's so important to license these. I mean, you need a license to be a hairdresser. So, you know, I mean, it seems like this is a little more important than doing somebody's hair. Yeah. But- And this was probably the number one reason a lot of women did pass away in the past was from childbirth. So we want to make sure that childbirth remains safe. And that we have people that are, you know, qualified and can recognize danger signs. And we know there's many very qualified and experienced midwives out there. It's just bringing them into that same recognized medical professional licensure is everyone else. Which I think is a really important thing. So there's another one for, that insurance will cover mammograms? So mammogram technology is improving. And as you or I go on into mammograms, often we're saying, do you want to have this style of mammogram, you know, if your insurance may not cover it? Right. So we just want to make sure that the laws for insurance requirements, the minimum requirements, keep pace with technology, and I think that's what this bill is about. Okay. Now the next batch of bills are all reducing violence against women. So we've got that civil statute of limitations, and that is one that's a carryover from last year, right? Where it did pass, they gave it two years. And I guess this one, without really being specific, it just, they want to extend that further. I know they were asking for 10 years, I think, before, and they got two, right? So we often focus not just on women, but children and families. And so this is dealing with sex assault on a minor. And often minors will, you know, because this is the assaults committed by an adult, and often somebody who's known within the family, it's something that's suppressed, it's shameful, they don't talk about it. And in many cases, the minor doesn't really begin to talk about it, or even recall, if they were so young, until they have children of their own. That's what happened to me. Yeah. So I totally understand that. And I also was part of, in the early 80s, one of the first delayed discovery suits against my father, because I didn't remember my abuse until I was 30. So I totally understand that. And I really hope that they will give it more than just the two years that they did give it. Yes. We had another proposal for the package. Unfortunately, it was left off the original boat, but it eliminated the statute of limitations for legal lawsuits for minors. So both of those bills have been submitted, and we'll see which one we can bring forward. But I think certainly the evidence is showing, you know, giving people up until they're kind of in child rearing age, you know, in their 40s, an opportunity to be able to bring forward. The burden of proof is still on the person bringing the case. So a lot of people say, oh, you can't do it because memories change. Well, the burden of proof is, unless the person can prove it, you know, they can't get the recovery. And this is a civil lawsuit. I don't believe there's a statute of limitations on the criminal lawsuits. I don't think there is, either. No. Yes. Okay. So next one is that, I love this, clinical victim support services. And I think that is so important that their insurance will cover the kind of counseling and therapy that they need. And that's, if you don't have that support, you're not going to get better. Yeah, this is under reducing violence, but it actually should be under health because it's any victim of, you know, sexual assault or violence. They often undergo the same similar as PTSD. It is PTSD, absolutely it is. Yeah, and so this is just to make sure that we have a minimum standard of mental health services that are available under insurance. We did some research and it appears our insurance companies are voluntarily providing mental health services, but it's maybe a little bit different in each insurance industry, or the coding may be different. So this would provide some consistency across our insurance industry. Oh, important. Yeah. But we're very happy that the providers are voluntarily doing it now. And so we're hoping to be able to work with them on standard. Right, and sort of bolster them up. I think that's a great idea. So this next one is to add strangulation as one of the definitions of domestic violence. Is, am I reading that one right? I think it's to make it a felony offense. So sometimes with an attempt to suffocate someone, there may not be a visible sign of injury, a pillow over the face, or things like that. So this is to add suffocation to a felony offense, an attempt. I think that's great. The very first thing that my first husband ever did to me was to grab me by the neck and stick me up against a wall with my feet about the spar off the ground until I felt like I was going to pass out. So when I read that strangulation, I thought, yeah, and that's what they do. There was no mark. There was absolutely no mark on my neck. Really it was red at first, but that was it. And it was done, you know? So I think that's an important one to add. So we've got human trafficking statewide training, I think is important too, because here in Hawaii is pretty big. Yeah, we have three bills on human trafficking and what the advocacy community has been coming in and sharing with us that Hawaii is on a circuit between Asia and the mainland. And so people are often rotated, who are in the sex industry against their will. There are some people who are in the sex industry, you know, voluntarily, but this is the human trafficking is really dealing with people who have been coerced then isolated and moved frequently, so that they cannot escape from the industry. So we have three bills dealing with training, creating a database, and then for anybody who has had a conviction, misdemeanor for prostitution, if they want to leave the profession, they should be able to expunge their record and so it's not held against them. We have expungement statutes for a number of other crimes. Is that the next one? Is that our next bill right here? I think that we're survivors, not criminals. I love the name of that one. I think that's so important, yeah. So this is where somebody's had a clean record for a number of years and they want to be able to expunge their record so it doesn't come up in employment searches and it will, you know, of course. Well, that's a good thing. And then maybe even with the training, policemen won't be so quick to, you're a criminal, maybe they'll be able to look at them as maybe a victim and help them instead of just take them to jail. I have to say we don't, because I sat on the Judiciary Committee and there is a very different response from the current prosecutor on the city and county of Honolulu than from some of the neighbor island prosecutors, particularly on Kauai. And the Kauai prosecutor, I think, has been very progressive in how they treat people in this situation. And so I'm hoping that that can be more of an example of how we can move forward. Then we can follow. We're starting to run out of time. There's so much to talk about. So there's the database, which we already talked about a little bit. Then there's just two more bills that are about employment. And then Title IX, which I think is a really important one with all, I love that what it is, is Title IX sort of got under in jeopardy sort of with what's going on in the mainland and immediately Hawaii passed this bill. And now it's going to be even ratified again. Is that what this makes it stronger? We put in to create a state equivalent of Title IX in our state law because the current federal administration is backpedaling on some of the guidance that came out under the Obama administration on Title IX. But the law that we passed last year does not have an enforcement mechanism. The federal law does. So we're coming back this year and we're supposed to follow up on a study that the Legislative Reference Bureau did on how should we be enforcing Title IX under our state. The other law is a lot of companies will have a non-disclosure agreement so that if there is a sexual harassment, the employee cannot disclose it. And that allows basically predators to continue with their record unblemished either in the same employment or going over to a different employment. So we want to say that you cannot have these types of policies that will muzzle. And this is the sexual harassment in the workplace? This is sexual harassment in the workplace. And again, it's anybody who's been sexually harassed because at times, men can be sexually harassed, transgendered, women, you know, but it's just saying under these circumstances you cannot silence people as a condition of employment because we don't want to protect predators. That's awesome. I love it. Oh my goodness. There's so many more things that I have many more questions. I have more stuff I want to talk about, but unfortunately we are out of time. But I want to thank you so much for coming. Thank you very much for inviting me. And the caucus thanks you for highlighting these issues. Oh my gosh. And I'm going to keep doing it too so people expect to hear from me over and over. Now, if you're out there and you've been listening to this stuff today and you've been triggered and you feel like you might be a victim and you're not quite sure or you're positive that you're a victim and you'd like some help. There's some numbers on the screen right now that I really want you. Please don't feel like you're alone because you are not alone. There are people here like me. There's people everywhere out in the world. We have people in our government even that we can trust, that we can reach out to. So I want you to keep informed about what's happening in this legislative session. I want you to make your voice known, call your representatives, stay involved. And I want to thank you for coming and joining me here today on Finding Respect in the Chaos. I'm Cynthia Lee Sinclair and I hope to see you next time.