HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

52

TWENTY-SEVENTH LEGISLATURE, 2013

H.D. 1

STATE OF HAWAII

S.D. 1

 

 

 

 

 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

 

RELATING TO CIVIL RIGHTS.

 

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 


     SECTION 1.  Chapter 52D, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

     "§52D-    Biased-based policing.  (a)  No police officer or police department shall engage in any of the following:

     (1)  Biased-based policing;

     (2)  The pattern or practice of conduct that deprives any person of rights, privileges, or immunities secured or protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States or by the Constitution or laws of Hawaii; or

     (3)  The use of department moneys, equipment, or personnel for the purpose of detecting or apprehending any person whose only violation of law is being a noncitizen residing in the United States in violation of federal immigration laws, except as otherwise required by federal law.

     (b)  The department of the attorney general shall enforce this section pursuant to its prosecutorial, investigative, and public education powers under chapter 28.

     (c)  As used in this section, the following terms shall mean as follows:

     "Biased-based policing" means the practice of a police officer or police department, relying, to any degree, on actual or perceived race, ethnicity, national origin, immigration or citizenship status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or religion in selecting which individual to subject to routine or spontaneous law enforcement activity following the initial contact.  "Biased-based policing" shall include the use of racial or ethnic stereotypes as factors in selecting whom to stop and search, but shall not include reliance on trustworthy individualized information, relevant to the locality and timeframe, that links a person of a particular race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, or religion to an identified criminal incident or scheme.

     "Law enforcement activity" means activities performed by police officers including but not limited to non-custodial questioning, interviews, traffic stops, check point or roadblock stops, pedestrian stops, frisks and other types of body searches, consensual and nonconsensual searches of persons or the property of persons, home searches, and contact with potential victims of and witnesses to crimes.

     "Police department" means any county police department or county public body that employs law enforcement officers.

     "Police officer" means any public servant employed by a county, vested by law with a duty to maintain public order or to make arrests for offenses or to enforce the criminal laws, whether that duty extends to all offenses or is limited to a specific class of offenses."

     SECTION 2.  Chapter 353C, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

     "§353C-    Biased-based policing.  (a)  Neither the department nor any public safety officer shall engage in any of the following:

     (1)  Biased-based policing;

     (2)  The pattern or practice of conduct that deprives any person of rights, privileges, or immunities secured or protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States or by the Constitution or laws of Hawaii; or

     (3)  The use of department moneys, equipment, or personnel for the purpose of detecting or apprehending any person whose only violation of law is being a noncitizen residing in the United States in violation of federal immigration laws, except as otherwise required by federal law.

     (b)  The department of the attorney general shall enforce this section pursuant to its prosecutorial, investigative, and public education powers under chapter 28.

     (c)  As used in this section, the following terms shall mean as follows:

     "Biased-based policing" means the practice of the department or a public safety officer, relying, to any degree, on actual or perceived race, ethnicity, national origin, immigration or citizenship status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or religion in selecting which individual to subject to routine or spontaneous law enforcement activity following the initial contact.  "Biased-based policing" shall include the use of racial or ethnic stereotypes as factors in selecting whom to stop and search, but shall not include reliance on trustworthy individualized information, relevant to the locality and timeframe, that links a person of a particular race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, or religion to an identified criminal incident or scheme.

     "Law enforcement activity" means activities performed by public safety officers including but not limited to non-custodial questioning, interviews, traffic stops, check point or roadblock stops, pedestrian stops, frisks and other types of body searches, consensual and nonconsensual searches of persons or the property of persons, home searches, and contact with potential victims of and witnesses to crimes."

     SECTION 3.  New statutory material is underscored.

     SECTION 4.  This Act shall take effect on January 1, 2050.


 


 

Report Title:

Civil Rights; Attorney General; Biased-based Policing

 

Description:

Prohibits biased-based policing by state and county law enforcement agencies and agents.  Establishes the Department of the Attorney General as the enforcing agency.  Effective 1/1/50.  (SD1)

 

 

 

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