STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2989

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    H.B. No. 1987

       H.D. 1

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2016

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committees on Human Services and Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 1987, H.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO YOUTH GANGS,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to address the problem of youth gangs in the State by appropriating funds for:

 

     (1)  The Office of Youth Services to provide and develop prevention and intervention services and programs statewide for youth at risk; and

 

     (2)  The police departments of the City and County of Honolulu and the Counties of Hawaii, Kauai, and Maui to monitor gang activities and establish new gang prevention strategies and projects.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Executive Office on Aging, Office of Youth Services, Parents and Children Together, and one individual.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of the Attorney General.

 

     Your Committees find that there is a growing youth gang problem in the State that must be addressed.  Your Committees also find that providing and developing prevention and intervention programs, and providing information about the issue to the public, as well as monitoring gang activities and establishing new gang prevention strategies and projects statewide, are effective ways to address the youth gang problem.  Your Committees further find that this measure establishes and funds these strategies.

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Inserting language to require the Office of Youth Services to coordinate the development of a youth gang information program;

 

     (2)  Specifying that a portion of the appropriation for monitoring gang activities and establishing new gang prevention strategies and projects statewide should be designated to each of the counties of the State; and

 

     (3)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

 

     Your Committees request that the Honolulu Police Department provide assistance in identifying the funds that should be appropriated to each county.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Human Services and Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1987, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1987, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Human Services and Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs,

 

________________________________

CLARENCE K. NISHIHARA, Chair

 

________________________________

SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair