HB 229: Accountability in Internal Investigations

To track the status of this bill, find it on our Legislation Tracker. Click here to contact the sponsor of the bill to share your thoughts, or click here to email your Senator and Representative about it.

Criminal allegations of public officials can be tricky to investigate. But when it happens, they need to be handled in a way that protects the integrity of the investigation while creating transparency and full accountability for the involved government agencies. In order to accomplish this, Representative Craig Hall is sponsoring House Bill 229.

This bill prevents criminally accused members or employees of law enforcement from being investigated by their own employer for those criminal claims. The bill would instead require separate law enforcement or prosecutorial agencies to preside over the investigations. This includes law enforcement agencies, prosecutorial agencies, local education agencies, and state institutions of higher education.

This bill is a good step toward ensuring accountability is upheld when serious offenses may have been committed within the walls of government agencies. It’s a short and simple, yet powerful, piece of legislation that needs to pass to establish legal boundaries for criminal allegations.