STAND. COM. REP. NO. 990

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 151

S.D. 2

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2023

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred S.B. No. 151, S.D. 1, entitled:

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

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Require any department or agency employing a law enforcement officer to maintain a publicly available policy that provides a minimum standard on the use of force;

(2) Allow use of force policies and training to be considered in legal proceedings involving a law enforcement officer's use of force;

(3) Require a law enforcement officer who observes the use of excessive force by another law enforcement officer to report the use of excessive force; and

(4) Require that law enforcement officers receive training designed to minimize the use of force.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Honolulu Police Department, Kauai Police Department, and one individual. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers and one individual. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of the Attorney General.

Your Committee finds that ensuring that force used by officers in the performance of duties is proper, lawful, and necessary is crucial to provide for public safety and maintain the trust of the public. To that end, providing increased training and enacting policy and procedures regarding lawful use of force is necessary. This measure strengthens the laws that regulate police conduct in order to minimize the use of force.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Specifying that the division head shall complete an investigation and notify the chief of police of the respective county or the state department deputy director, as applicable, of the outcome of the investigation in writing;

(2) Specifying that the chief of police or the state department deputy director who received the written notification shall notify the police commission of the respective county or the state department director, as applicable, of the outcome of the investigation in writing;

(3) Specifying that if the department head is the subject of the use of force report, the reporting officer shall report directly to the police commission of the respective county or the state department director, as applicable, within seven days of observing the use of force, and the police commission or the state department director shall complete an investigation;

(4) Deleting language that would have required that the investigation of the department head be completed within fifteen days;

(5) Clarifying that any police commission or state department director who receives a report of use of force shall begin conducting an investigation as soon as practicable and reach a timely determination on the merits; and

(6) Adding definitions for "department head" and "division head".

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. 151, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 151, S.D. 2.

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

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KARL RHOADS, Chair