STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2130

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2382

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Public Safety and Military Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 2382 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:

(1) Establish the Kupaa Retention Bonus Program to be administered by the Department of Law Enforcement to provide $15,000 retention bonuses to eligible sworn law enforcement officers that have worked a minimum of two thousand hours during the preceding fiscal year;

(2) Require the Department of Law Enforcement to report to the Legislature on the effectiveness of the Kupaa Retention Bonus Program; and

(3) Appropriate funds for the Kupaa Retention Bonus Program.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Judiciary; Department of Law Enforcement; and Hawaii Government Employees Association, AFSCME Local 152, AFL-CIO.

Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Office of Collective Bargaining and twelve individuals.

Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of the Attorney General; Office of Information Practices; and United Public Workers, AFSCME Local 646, AFL-CIO.

Your Committee finds that the Department of Law Enforcement and other law enforcement agencies in the State face significant challenges in retaining qualified and experienced personnel. The high-stress situations, demanding work schedules, and increasingly complex public safety challenges that officers encounter further contribute to the Department's retention challenges. The Kupaa Retention Bonus Program proposed by this measure would allow the Department to retain qualified personnel by providing a meaningful financial incentive to sworn officers who have worked a minimum of two thousand hours during the preceding fiscal year.

Your Committee notes that compensation-related matters, including incentives or bonuses, such as the Kupaa Retention Bonus Program established by this measure, are generally subject to the collective bargaining provisions of Chapter 89, Hawaii Revised Statutes.

Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Clarifying that the Kupaa Retention Bonus Program shall be administered if negotiated through collective bargaining pursuant to section 89-9, Hawaii Revised Statutes; 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 Military Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2382, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2382, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

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

________________________________

CAROL FUKUNAGA, Chair