STAND. COM. REP. NO. 903-24

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2024

RE: H.B. No. 1611

H.D. 2

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2024

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 1611, H.D. 1, entitled:

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

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to require:

(1) Law enforcement agencies and the Law Enforcement Standards Board to consult the National Decertification Index and ensure the reporting of officer misconduct to the Index; and

(2) The reporting of certain domestic violence records to the National Decertification Index, notwithstanding any contrary law or court order regarding the sealing of those records.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Law Enforcement; Policing Project at NYU School of Law; and three individuals. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers.

Your Committee finds that the Law Enforcement Standards Board should be more transparent with other law enforcement agencies regarding the decertification of law enforcement officers in the State. This measure ensures that individuals applying to become law enforcement officers are properly scrutinized and that the decertification of current law enforcement officers is reported to a national registry available to participating state government agencies across the nation.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Amending the preamble;

(2) Amending the information that must be reported to the National Decertification Index;

(3) Deleting language that would have required the reporting of certain domestic violence records to the National Decertification Index, notwithstanding any contrary law or court order regarding the sealing of those records;

(4) Requiring the Law Enforcement Standards Board to periodically communicate with the International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement Standards and Training, or review the National Decertification Index website, or the website of any successor index, to determine if the National Decertification Index is accepting any additional information or records; and

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

Your Committee respectfully requests the Senate, should it deliberate on this measure, to consider changing the effective date to July 1, 2025.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1611, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1611, H.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs,

____________________________

DAVID A. TARNAS, Chair