Investigators; authority and access to records.

(a) The director shall appoint and commission one or more investigators as the exigencies of the public service may require. Persons appointed and commissioned under this section shall have and may exercise all the powers and authority of a police officer or of a deputy sheriff, provided that the persons so appointed and commissioned shall not carry any firearms.

(b) Information necessary to investigate fraud and other crimes relating to public assistance, to locate absent parents, to establish paternity, to obtain and enforce court orders of support, and to investigate incidents at the Hawaii youth correctional facilities, and contained within the records of any agency, board, commission, authority, or committee of the State or its political subdivisions shall be made available to any commissioned investigator of the department of human services, notwithstanding any provision for confidentiality. [L 1976, c 83, §1; am L 1979, c 176, §1; am L 1987, c 339, §4; am L 1989, c 211, §10; am L 1990, c 281, §11; am L 2009, c 62, §2]