STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3289

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 1239

H.D. 2

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 1239, H.D. 2, entitled:

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

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to enhance the public's trust in law enforcement and standardize best practices between the counties by:

(1) Amending provisions pertaining to the Law Enforcement Officer Independent Review Board to:

(A) Require members to serve four-year terms; and

(B) Make the Board permanent; and

(2) Amending the membership and powers of the Law Enforcement Standards Board and extending certain members' terms to four years.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Law Enforcement Standards Board. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of the Attorney General, Department of Transportation, and American Civil Liberties Union of Hawai‘i.

Your Committee finds that public trust in law enforcement is critical to ensuring justice for all under the law. Your Committee believes that the difficult and often dangerous job of law enforcement is safer, easier, and more effectively executed when citizens trust those empowered to serve and protect them. This measure will enhance the public's trust in law enforcement and standardize best practices between the counties by amending provisions pertaining to the Law Enforcement Officer Independent Review Board to require members to serve four-year terms and make the Board permanent.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Removing the provisions relating to the Law Enforcement Standards Board to allow those issues to be addressed via House Bill No. 892, H.D. 2 (2022);

(2) Amending section 1 to reflect its amended purpose; and

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

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1239, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1239, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary.

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

________________________________

CLARENCE K. NISHIHARA, Chair