STAND. COM. REP. NO. 749-26

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2026

RE: H.B. No. 1790

H.D. 2

Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

Madame:

Your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 1790, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO POLICING,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to require:

(1) Law enforcement agencies and law enforcement oversight agencies to collect and report certain data regarding law enforcement stops, uses of force, and complaints to the Hawaii Crime Lab affiliated with the University of Hawaii; and

(2) The Hawaii Crime Lab affiliated with the University of Hawaii to collect and publish incident-level information and an annual report on the data collected.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of Public Defender; University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa's College of Social Sciences; Office of Hawaiian Affairs; Hawaiʻi Appleseed Center for Law & Economic Justice; American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaiʻi; Measures for Justice; Policing Project of the New York University School of Law; Connecticut Racial Profiling Prohibition Project of the University of Connecticut Institute for Municipal and Regional Policy; Hawaiʻi Crime Lab; Public First Law Center; and six individuals. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Honolulu Police Department. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Law Enforcement and Alzheimer's Association.

Your Committee finds that standardized, statewide collection and public reporting of law enforcement stop, use-of-force, and complaint data is essential to promoting transparency, accountability, and public trust in law enforcement. Your Committee further finds that designating the Hawaii Crime Lab as the central reporting entity will support consistent statewide reporting, enable meaningful analysis of law enforcement activity, and allow the State to capture available federal funding to support law enforcement data collection.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Amending the preamble;

(2) Establishing the Hawaii Center for Policing and Criminal Justice Research within the Social Science Research Institute, College of Social Sciences, University of Hawaii at Manoa, to house and support the Hawaii Crime Lab;

(3) Clarifying race and ethnicity demographic data collection, including recognition of Hawaiian identity and prioritization of self-identification where feasible;

(4) Clarifying data collection to reflect perceived cognitive impairment, rather than an actual determination of cognitive impairment;

(5) Requiring the central reporting entity to ensure that publicly available reports present Hawaiian data as a distinct category for all persons identifying as Hawaiian, whether alone or in combination with other racial or ethnic identities;

(6) Requiring the Department of the Attorney General to consult with the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and any community advisory board in adopting rules;

(7) Clarifying the pursuit, administration, and permissible use of federal section 1906 grant funds for law enforcement data collection, including the role of the central reporting entity;

(8) Appropriating funds for the Hawaii Center for Policing and Criminal Justice Research, including support for the central reporting entity responsibilities; and

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

Your Committee respectfully requests your Committee on Finance, should it deliberate on this measure, to consider an appropriation amount of $300,000 and an effective date of July 1, 2026.

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. 1790, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it be referred to your Committee on Finance in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1790, H.D. 2.

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

____________________________

DAVID A. TARNAS, Chair