STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3122

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 1849

H.D. 2

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2018

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs and Labor, to which was referred H.B. No. 1849, H.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC SAFETY,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Require police departments to disclose to the Legislature the identity of a police officer upon the officer's discharge or second or subsequent suspension in a five-year period; and

(2) Allow disclosure under the Uniform Information Practices Act (UIPA) of employment misconduct information that results in a county police officer's second or subsequent suspension in a five-year period.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of Information Practices, League of Women Voters Hawaii, Society of Professional Journalists Hawaii Chapter, Young Progressives Demanding Action, and three individuals. Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Maui Police Department and The Civil Beat Law Center for the Public Interest.

Your Committees find that disclosing the identities of police officers who are suspended or discharged serves the public interest. Transparency and accountability of police officers are of great importance in maintaining the public's confidence in law enforcement, and a healthy relationship between police and the public is essential for maintaining the health, safety, and welfare of the public. However, your Committees acknowledge testimony indicating that the measure's existing proposals would not adequately effectuate the intent of the measure. Therefore, your Committees find that in order to establish meaningful transparency and accountability of police officers, the chief of police of each county should be required to disclose to the Legislature the identity of a police officer upon the officer's suspension or discharge and that disclosure under the UIPA of employment misconduct information that results in any county police officer's suspension should be allowed.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Requiring the chief of each county police department to disclose to the Legislature the identity of a police officer upon the officer's suspension or discharge; and

(2) Allowing disclosure under the UIPA of employment misconduct information that results in a county police officer's suspension.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs and Labor that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1849, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1849, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs and Labor,

________________________________ JILL N. TOKUDA, Chair

________________________________ CLARENCE K. NISHIHARA, Chair