STAND. COM. REP. NO. 248

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 1187

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2021

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 1187 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT MAKING AN EMERGENCY APPROPRIATION TO THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to make an emergency appropriation to provide funds for the Department of Public Safety to cover the shortfall of funding for the costs of personnel services at all correctional institutions statewide.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Public Safety.

 

     Your Committee finds that the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has placed unprecedented pressures on the economy of the State of Hawaii, forcing state government to severely restrict its operating budget.  Act 5, Session Laws of Hawaii 2019, as amended by Act 7, Session Laws of Hawaii 2020, as amended by Act 9, Session Laws of Hawaii 2020, deleted the base salary of approximately two hundred ninety-eight positions of the Department of Public Safety, including positions for the health care division which is at the forefront of the Department of Public Safety's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.  This measure will ensure that critical personnel in the Department of Public Safety are compensated for their services and that necessary positions are reinstated.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Inserting an appropriation amount of $502,476 in general funds for fiscal year 2021-2022, for the funding of intake service center positions;

 

     (2)  Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2021; and

 

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

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1187, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1187, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs,

 

 

 

________________________________

CLARENCE K. NISHIHARA, Chair