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Committee amends and postpones bill to give media access to HPD communications after debate over timing and privacy
Summary
Council committee advanced a committee draft (CD1) of Bill 46, which would require the Honolulu Police Department to release certain incident information to media in a more timely way; the committee accepted amendments on timing and content but postponed final action to work out privacy and operational details.
The Honolulu City Council Public Safety and Economic Committee on Sept. 25 amended and postponed Bill 46, a measure that would require the Honolulu Police Department to provide more timely incident information to news organizations.
The proposed committee draft (CD1) adds a definition for "real‑time emergency alerts," sets content categories for alerts (partial address, incident type, crime classification, general description and responding first‑responder agencies), and directs HPD to work with news organizations on a strategic plan for access. The draft requires that no communication covered by the bill may include personal information that would violate federal or state privacy standards, and revises media eligibility requirements from 10 to 25 years of operation to qualify for access.
Major Paul Okimoto, representing the Honolulu Police Department on behalf of the interim chief, said HPD supports increased transparency but urged changes to timing requirements to protect operational safety. In the draft, text alerts would be issued "no later than five minutes after" relevant information is received in HPD's system; Okimoto urged a longer interval and told the committee that 10 minutes would be a more viable option so officers could "get to the scene to assess what's going on." The draft also included an option for radio‑communications access with a 60‑second standard for release; HPD called 60 seconds "not viable" and recommended 10 minutes if radio access were used.
Members of the press — including representatives of KITV, KHON, Hawaii News Now and other outlets — urged quicker access, saying minutes (or seconds) can be critical for public safety and reporting. Reporters said they would accept redaction of personally identifiable information and asked for a mechanism to receive address and resource‑deployment details in near real time. Media witnesses urged that access be by text alerts or CAD‑style initial calls rather than delayed postings.
Council Member Tupala proposed a package of technical amendments during the hearing: change the five‑minute texting requirement to 10 minutes, remove the word "partial" from the address field, replace "other" first responders with "number of first responders responding to the incident," and change the 60‑second radio‑release standard to 10 minutes. That motion was seconded, the chair said the committee should continue work on clarifying language, and the committee voted to amend the posted CD1 and postpone action to a future meeting to give HPD and media time to work out an operational plan.
Committee members and witnesses emphasized three recurring tensions to resolve before final passage: (1) how to give the media timely, actionable information without compromising officer safety or revealing protected CJIS data; (2) how to define eligible news organizations and whether a 25‑year operating requirement is appropriate; and (3) practical delivery mechanisms (text alerts, MS Teams, CAD extracts, or live radio feeds) and securing a consistent, audited technical solution.
The committee left the measure amended to CD1 and postponed to a later date to allow additional stakeholder discussions and technical refinements.
