STAND. COM. REP. NO. 409

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 568

       S.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committees on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs, Transportation, and Water and Land, to which was referred S.B. No. 568 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO A LAW ENFORCEMENT STANDARDS BOARD,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

     (1)  Establish a Law Enforcement Standards Board for the certification of county police officers, state public safety officers employed by the Department of Public Safety, and employees at the Departments of Transportation and Land and Natural Resources with police powers;

     (2)  Prohibit appointment or hiring of these officers unless certified by the Law Enforcement Standards Board beginning on January 1, 2018; and

     (3)  Establish the law enforcement standards board special fund.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Remington College Honolulu Criminal Justice Student Coalition and fifteen individuals.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Honolulu Police Department and County of Hawaii Police Department.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources, Department of Transportation, Department of Budget and Finance, and Department of the Attorney General.

     Your Committees find that it is the role of the State to oversee and regulate professions and occupations that have a significant impact on society.  Law enforcement is an area where more should be done by the State to provide standards and uniformity statewide.  The State and counties grant to police, sheriffs, and other law enforcement officers an immense amount of authority including the power to search, arrest, and use deadly force.  The implementation of this measure ensures that law enforcement is held to the highest standards of professionalism and promotes uniformity of standards throughout the State.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

     (1)  Requiring certain members of the Law Enforcement Standards Board ("Board") to have experience rather than significant experience and not be currently employed as law enforcement officers or employed by a law enforcement agency;

     (2)  Requiring the Board to consult with state and county agencies and other stakeholders to establish minimum standards for employment as a law enforcement officer;

     (3)  Eliminating the Board's power to investigate any allegations of criminal activity and authorizing the board to investigate allegations of misconduct;

     (4)  Authorizing, rather than requiring, the Board to establish law enforcement training programs;

     (5)  Requiring the Board to establish minimum training requirements for law enforcement officers;

     (6)  Requiring each government agency or department to be responsible for training its staff to meet standards and qualifications;

     (7)  Requiring law enforcement officers under contract by the State to meet the minimum qualifications established by the Board;

     (8)  Amending the date by which existing law enforcement officers must obtain a valid certificate;

     (9)  Deleting all transfer of powers language in sections 5, 6, and 7; and

    (10)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs, Transportation, and Water and Land that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 568, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 568, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committees on Ways and Means and Judiciary and Labor.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs, Transportation, and Water and Land,

____________________________ CLARENCE K. NISHIHARA, Chair	____________________________ WILL ESPERO, Chair
	____________________________ LAURA H. THIELEN, Chair