A bill that would establish a standard vehicular pursuit policy for all Hawaii’s law enforcement agencies has cleared its first committee hurdle.
The House Transportation Committee on Thursday passed House Bill 277 with amendments by an 8-0 vote, with one lawmaker excused.
The measure was introduced by Rep. David Tarnas (D-Kohala) with Rep. Jeanne Kapela, a fellow Big Island Democrat, among six co-sponsors. It would limit the circumstances under which police could engage in a vehicle pursuit.
Police could only initiate a pursuit if an individual in the vehicle being chased is believed to have committed murder, manslaughter, negligent homicide, felony assault, sexual assault, domestic abuse, escape or DUI — and the vehicle pursuit “is necessary to identify or apprehend” the suspect.
The committee chairman, Rep. Darius Kila, an Oahu Democrat, said technical amendments will be made for clarity, consistency and style, and changed the effective date on the bill from July 1, 2026, to a placeholder date of July 1, 3000.
“I do want to note the concern in the testimony received by the county police departments …,” Kila said. “I do want, though, the opportunity for this bill to move forward to allow the introducer and the final committee to explore some of the concerns and impacts further in discussion.”
Both the Hawaii and Maui county police departments submitted written testimony in opposition to the measure.
“HPD values the sanctity of life and recognizes that motor vehicle pursuits are among the most dangerous actions an officer may undertake,” HPD Chief Ben Moszkowicz wrote. “With this in mind, HPD’s existing pursuit policy already aligns with many of the elements of HB 277, including guidelines for initiation, operations, termination and reporting.
“Rather than codifying pursuit policies through legislation, HPD believes that the appropriate avenue for establishing statewide standards is through the Law Enforcement Standards Board. Additionally, specifying particular crimes for which pursuits are permitted is both unnecessary and potentially confusing, as it could create ambiguity in critical, time-sensitive situations.”
The HPD’s vehicle pursuit policy, General Order 602, is a heavily-redacted document with all pursuit procedures and most of the termination of pursuit procedures unavailable to the public.
MPD Chief John Pelletier testified “a one-size-fits-all policy is not the appropriate approach to addressing vehicle pursuits.”
“The Maui Police Department’s principal responsibility in pursuit circumstances is the safeguarding of the lives, safety and well-being of its officers and residents it serves,” Pelletier wrote. “We understand that pursuits initiate risk and danger to the officer and public, however, there are high-priority situations when an appropriate law enforcement response necessitates a pursuit, which supersedes the level of endangerment and jeopardy involved.”
There were two in-person testifiers, Josh Parker, deputy director of policy for The Policing Project at New York University School of Law, and Nathan Lee, policy legislative fellow for the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii, both in favor of the legislation.
Parker said that according to data, “far too often pursuit puts the lives of officers and community members at risk.”
“For example, a recent study reported that more than 3,000 people, including officers, have died in vehicle pursuits in the past five years, including more than 500 bystanders, with over 50,000 people suffering injury. Just one in 15 people killed during pursuits are chased for violent crimes. Most are chased for nonviolent crimes or low-level driving infractions like having a broken taillight,” Parker said. “Because of the immense danger of pursuits, states and departments across the country have enacted laws and policies only permitting them for violent crimes — and in some cases, reckless or impaired driving. … Just last month, the largest municipal police union in the country successfully urged (New York Police Department) to adopt such a restrictive pursuit policy.
“The only county with publicly available core pursuit policy provisions, Honolulu, permits pursuits for any crime or traffic infraction — exactly the sort of policy resulting in needless fatalities nationwide.”
Lee called the bill “much needed policy on vehicular pursuit and provides basic protections against the miscarriage of justice by those entrusted with our public safety.” He also cited a recent study by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Police Executive Research Forum.
“They found that the high-speed chase, and I’m quoting ‘is not, nor should it be, a routine part of law enforcement work’ and ‘provides risk to … passengers, pursuing officers and uninvolved bystanders,’” Lee said. “I also want to note that, again, most of the time, these police pursuits begin with minor violations. I think one statistic found that 75% of these fatal pursuits begin with something as basic as a broken taillight or some other sort of minor violation. … We’re not calling for total elimination of discretion by police officers. We’re just asking for some basic, baseline measures.
“… We believe that these reporting requirements will create a better set of standardized pursuit policies for Hawaii, and also eliminate unnecessary risks and potential abuse of police discretion.”
The amended measure will be forwarded to the House Committee on the Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs, which Tarnas chairs. No hearing had been scheduled as of Thursday.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
