STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2294

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 3041

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2024

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Public Safety and Intergovernmental and Military Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 3041 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 clarify membership and certain powers and duties of the Law Enforcement Standards Board and establish new deadlines for the completion of Board responsibilities.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of the Attorney General and Department of Law Enforcement.

Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers; ACLU of Hawaiʻi; and Policing Project, New York University School of Law.

Your Committee finds that the Law Enforcement Standards Board is responsible for establishing minimum standards for employment as a law enforcement officer, certifying persons qualified as law enforcement officers, and establishing minimum criminal justice curriculum requirements for basic, specialized, and in-service courses and programs for the training of law enforcement officers. Your Committee further finds that expanding and then explicitly authorizing the Law Enforcement Standards Board to study and evaluate curriculums, collective bargaining, employment laws, rules, and agreements will allow the Board to establish standards, certifications, and training requirements in a purposeful and intentional manner. This measure will result in better standards, certifications, and training requirements for law enforcement officers and thereby increase public confidence in law enforcement and improve public safety.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Deleting language that would have provided an exemption to a person who entered into employment with the applicable county police department or state department before July 1, 2026, and termination of employment would violate any valid collective bargaining agreement; 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 Public Safety and Intergovernmental and Military Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 3041, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 3041, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary.

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

________________________________

GLENN WAKAI, Chair