STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2440

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 2411

       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. 2411 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO LAW ENFORCEMENT CAMERAS,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

 

     (1)  Establish requirements for body-worn cameras and vehicle cameras for county police departments; and

 

     (2)  Appropriate funds as a grant-in-aid to each county for the purchase of body-worn video cameras and law enforcement vehicle cameras; provided that no funds appropriated to a county shall be expended unless they are matched dollar-for-dollar by the county.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from one individual.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Office of Information Practices and the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii.

 

     Your Committee finds that an increasing number of jurisdictions are addressing the issue of body-worn cameras and vehicle cameras being used by law enforcement officers.  Body-worn cameras and vehicle cameras are useful for collecting evidence by police officers for use in court, as well as resolving incidents of alleged misconduct by officers.  Your Committee finds that the public and law enforcement agencies are likely to benefit from the use of body-worn cameras and vehicle cameras by officers, but your Committee also notes testimony on this measure expressing concern that the measure as proposed does not provide sufficient policy guidelines for the use of body-worn cameras or vehicle cameras by police officers.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Replacing language requiring police departments to adopt policies for the use of body-worn cameras with language from H.B. No. 1738 (Regular Session of 2016) setting out procedures for the use and discontinuation of use of body-worn cameras by law enforcement officers and adding a related definition;

 

     (2)  Inserting language from H.B. No. 1738 to add further prohibitions on the use of body-worn cameras by on-duty police officers, add retention and deletion requirements for body-worn camera footage, prohibit certain uses of body-worn camera video footage, and establish violations of recording and retention requirements; and

 

     (3)  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, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2411, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2411, 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