Published in Civil Beat on March 16, 2016:

"On Tuesday, the House Labor Committee, chaired by Rep. Mark Nakashima, deferred Senate Bill 2755, which would have created a statewide police standards and training board.

Hawaii is the only state without such an agency....

Rep. Jarrett Keohokalole, the author of HB 2460 and Nakashima’s vice chair on the Labor Committee, said his bill seeks to address the alleged assault of a Big Island teenager by a Department of Land and Natural Resources law enforcement officer.

He said he is frustrated that a number of positions in different state agencies that have police powers can only recruit people with law enforcement backgrounds — even if that background is checkered, as it was in the DLNR case."

Read more here.