HB 278 Hawaii House · 2026 Regular Session

RELATING TO POLICING.

Summary

Requires county police departments and police oversight agencies to collect and report certain data regarding police stops, uses of force, and complaints to the Crime Prevention and Justice Assistance Division of the Department of the Attorney General. Requires the Division to collect and publish incident-level information and an annual report on the data collected. Effective 7/1/3000. (HD1)

Issues: ✓ Criminal Justice

Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2025

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Jan 16, 2025 Last action Dec 8, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

HB278 → HB278_HD1 · 5 edits

MODERATE

The bill was amended to remove the requirement for police to report arrest data, narrowing the focus to stops, uses of force, and complaints. Several definitions were clarified to ensure privacy by preventing residential addresses from being linked to specific individuals in reports. The effective date was changed to a distant future date (July 1, 3000), and the bill title was updated to reflect the removal of arrest reporting.

Scope change

The scope of data collection was narrowed by removing the mandatory reporting of arrest data, while maintaining requirements for stops, uses of force, and complaints.

REQUIREMENT

Removed the requirement for police departments to report arrest data to the state division.

Modified reporting requirements for uses of force and complaints to include cross streets or block numbers instead of specific residential addresses to protect individual privacy.

DEFINITION

Updated the definition of 'Police stop' to clarify that stops at roadblocks based on neutral formulas are excluded, while those based on individualized suspicion are included.

TIMELINE

Changed the effective date of the Act from immediate approval to July 1, 3000.

TECHNICAL

Updated the bill title and summary to reflect the removal of arrest reporting requirements.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Feb 13, 2025

Committee

Reported from JHA (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 627) as amended in HD 1, recommending passage on Second Reading and referral to FIN.

lower

Feb 5, 2025

Lower · Passed

The committee on JHA recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes were as follows: 9 Ayes: Representative(s) Tarnas, Poepoe, Belatti, Hashem, Kahaloa, Perruso, Takayama, Todd; Ayes with reservations: Representative(s) Shimizu; 1 Noes: Representative(s) Garcia; and 1 Excused: Representative(s) Cochran.

lower

Jan 21, 2025

Committee

Referred to JHA, FIN, referral sheet 1

lower

Jan 17, 2025

Introduced

Introduced and Pass First Reading.

lower

Jan 16, 2025

Introduced

Pending introduction.

lower

12 primary · 0 co-sponsors