STAND. COM. REP. NO. 833

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 742

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2021

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred S.B. No. 742 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO POLICING,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to require each county police department to collect certain data regarding police stops, uses of force, and arrests, and submit annual reports to the Legislature.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Civil Beat Law Center for the Public Interest, Common Cause Hawaii, Community Alliance on Prisons, Young Progressives Demanding Action, Drug Policy Forum of Hawai‘i, American Civil Liberties Union of Hawai‘i, Hawaii Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice, and ten individuals. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Hawai‘i Police Department, Kaua‘i Police Department, Maui Police Department, and Police Chiefs of Hawaii Association. Your Committee received comments on this measure from one individual.

Your Committee finds that transparency in the criminal justice system contributes to the equitable application of the law and allows law enforcement to better serve the public. Good data, particularly data from law enforcement, is critical to the development of well-informed policy that can promote safer communities while reducing the human and financial costs of the criminal justice system. This measure requires each county police department to collect certain data regarding police stops, uses of force, and arrests, to, among other things, better consider situations of interest, such as trends in the use of force; safeguarding of law enforcement officers from injury; and thereby allow for greater overall academic analysis of policing in the State.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Inserting an effective date of May 6, 2137, to encourage further discussion; and

(2) 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 Judiciary that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 742, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 742, S.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary,

________________________________

KARL RHOADS, Chair