STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2441

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 2304

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2016

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 2304 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 require the Department of the Attorney General to maintain a publicly accessible database of all state and county law enforcement officers who are terminated or forced to resign due to criminal activity, improper behavior, or misconduct.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Public Safety; Department of Human Resources Development; Department of Land and Natural Resources; Hoomana Pono, LLC; American Civil Liberties Union Hawaii; Hawaii State Coalition Against Domestic Violence; and sixteen individuals.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of the Attorney General.

 

     Your Committee finds that effective applicant screening of prospective officers is vital to the compelling duty of state and county law enforcement agencies to protect the public.  If the screening process fails and untrustworthy individuals become law enforcement officers, the public can be harmed and public trust in law enforcement can deteriorate.  A public database of officers who have been terminated or forced to resign due to misconduct will give law enforcement agencies valuable information for screening applicants.

 

Your Committee notes that this measure, as proposed, is in conflict with existing law.  Information regarding officers whose termination is still pending under appeal is protected by the privacy exception of the Uniform Information Practices Act.  While this information should be timely available to law enforcement agencies considering an applicant, it should not be made publicly available until the appeals process is concluded.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Adding language to provide that information relating to officers whose termination is pending under appeal will not be made public until the appeals process is concluded; and

 

     (2)  Making a technical, nonsubstantive amendment for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2304, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2304, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committees on Judiciary and Labor and Ways and Means.

 

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

 

 

 

________________________________

CLARENCE K. NISHIHARA, Chair