Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2005

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Public Safety & Military Affairs, to which was referred H.C.R. No. 252 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this Concurrent Resolution is to request the federal government to waive combat income when considering the eligibility of military dependents for income-based school lunch programs.

Your Committee has amended the Concurrent Resolution by deleting its contents and substituting it with a request that the Legislative Reference Bureau conduct a review of the laws of other jurisdictions as they relate to police officers.

Specifically, the Bureau is requested to review the laws of other state and municipal jurisdictions regarding tax benefits, retirement system contributions, health fund contributions, and other benefits provided to police officers.

Your Committee finds that the recruitment and retention of police officers statewide continues to be a critical problem for the counties. Offers of better pay and benefits from mainland municipalities continue to deplete the ranks of county police departments. Unless the State provides assistance to the counties, the four county police departments will forever be below full strength and unable to fully serve the needs of their respective communities.

Your Committee also finds that recent legislation has proposed assisting police officers with tax incentives, pay raises, and other benefits. Despite the good intentions of these measures, a lack of accurate and reliable information with respect to how other state and municipal jurisdictions provide for their police forces has seriously hampered any attempt to gain legislative support.

This Concurrent Resolution will provide the necessary information to gain legislative support and to effectively respond to the police recruitment and retention problem in the State.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Public Safety & Military Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee concurs with the intent and purpose of H.C.R. No. 252, as amended herein, and recommends its adoption in the form attached hereto as H.C.R. No. 252, H.D. 1.