STAND. COM. REP. NO. 867

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 421

       S.D. 2

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2017

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committees on Judiciary and Labor and Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 421, S.D. 1, entitled:

 

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

 

beg 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 officers;

 

     (2)  Establish policy guidelines for the use and discontinuance of use of body-worn cameras by county police officers;

 

     (3)  Establish certain restrictions on the use of body-worn cameras and vehicle cameras by on-duty county police officers;

 

     (4)  Add retention and deletion requirements for body-worn camera footage;

 

     (5)  Prohibit certain uses of body-worn camera video footage;

 

     (6)  Establish violations of recording and retention requirements;

 

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

 

     (8)  Appropriate funds to the Department of Public Safety for the purchase of body-worn cameras and vehicle cameras for state law enforcement officers; and

 

     (9)  Require the county police departments to report costs of implementing and maintaining the body-worn camera and vehicle camera program to the Legislature.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of Information Practices, American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii, State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers, and fourteen individuals.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources; Department of Public Safety; Police Department, County of Hawaii; The Civil Beat Law Center for the Public Interest; and one individual.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from The Sex Abuse Treatment Center.

 

     Your Committees find 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.  Implementation of this measure will increase public safety and assist law enforcement agencies with training, assessment, and disciplinary decisions.

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Deleting references to "vehicle cameras" to limit the scope to body-worn cameras only;

 

     (2)  Deleting an appropriation to the Department of Public Safety for the purchase of body-worn cameras and vehicle cameras for state law enforcement officers;

 

     (3)  Inserting an effective date of January 7, 2059, to encourage further discussion; and

 

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

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Judiciary and Labor and Ways and Means that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 421, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 421, S.D. 2.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Judiciary and Labor and Ways and Means,

 

________________________________

JILL N. TOKUDA, Chair

 

________________________________

GILBERT S.C. KEITH-AGARAN, Chair