House and Senate members are still negotiating on the version of House Bill 1926 they will send to the governor. But they concur that the crime bill should revoke a peculiar exemption that permits police in Hawaii, in the course of their duties, to have sex with prostitutes.

The bill began in the House and was amended as it passed out of that chamber's Judicial Committee. At the time, Honolulu police told lawmakers that vice officers needed the exemption in law to prevent pimps and prostitutes from knowing the limits of police methods.

Rep. Karl Rhoads, the Democratic chairman of that committee, later explained that he amended the bill to allow the exemption because of the police testimony.