STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2426

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2909

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 Government Operations, Judiciary, and Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 2909 entitled:

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

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Establish an enforcement division in the Department of the Attorney General;

(2) Transfer to the Department of the Attorney General enforcement division the law enforcement activities of the Department of Land and Natural Resources, Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement; the Department of Public Safety state law enforcement officers and the narcotics enforcement division; and the Department of Transportation harbors division; and

(3) Repeal the sunset of Act 116, Session Laws of Hawaii 2013, as amended by section 4 of Act 101, Session Laws of Hawaii 2015.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Government Employees Association and five individuals. Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of the Attorney General, Department of Land and Natural Resources, The Nature Conservancy of Hawai‘i, Young Progressives Demanding Action, and one individual. Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Public Safety.

Your Committees find that the distribution of duties between multiple state agencies for the purposes of law enforcement is unnecessary and inefficient. Under existing law, the Departments of Land and Natural Resources, Public Safety, and Transportation all have independent law enforcement duties. However, your Committees find that these agencies all engage in some law enforcement activities. Your Committees find that consolidating all of the State's law enforcement duties under the Department of the Attorney General will result in better outcomes and increase the efficiency of law enforcement across the State.

However, your Committees recognize that this measure proposes a major organizational change to law enforcement across the State and that many issues including departmental infrastructure, funding, jurisdiction, responsibilities, training, and others, need to be vetted and properly addressed. Therefore, your Committees recommend that if your Committee on Ways and Means decides to hear this measure, that your Committee on Ways and Means investigate the issues surrounding such a reorganization further.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Changing the effective date to July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion; and

(2) 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 Government Operations, Judiciary, and Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2909, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2909, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Government Operations, Judiciary, and Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs,

________________________________ BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair	________________________________ DONNA MERCADO KIM, Chair
	________________________________ CLARENCE K. NISHIHARA, Chair