STAND. COM. REP. NO.  1095

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2021

 

RE:   S.B. No. 664

      S.D. 1

      H.D. 1

 

 

 

 

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2021

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Corrections, Military, & Veterans, to which was referred S.B. No. 664, S.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC SAFETY,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure is to authorize the development of the new Oahu community correctional center.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Public Safety, Department of Accounting and General Services, and Hawaii Psychological Association.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Office of the Public Defender, Community Alliance on Prisons, American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii, Young Progressives Demanding Action, and ten individuals.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.

 

     Your Committee finds that this measure could be improved by requiring that certain features be addressed at any new facility, including culturally appropriate rehabilitation programs.  Your Committee further finds that the Hawaii Correctional System Oversight Commission (Commission) should weigh in on best practices concerning the design of the facility and ways it can better serve the inmate population.

     Your Committee also finds that the Legislature authorized the position of oversight coordinator when it established the Commission in 2019, specified a salary equivalent to the salary of the Director of Human Resources Development, and mandated that the coordinator devote their entire time and attention to the administration of the Commission.  The Legislature also authorized the oversight coordinator to employ persons to perform the functions of the Commission.  To date, the Commission has operated without the benefit of an oversight coordinator or support staff.

 

     Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Requiring the Department of Public Safety to provide programming focused on cultural-based rehabilitation at any new facility;

 

     (2)  Requiring the Department of Public Safety to obtain input from the Commission on its plans and designs concerning specified components of the facility;

 

     (3)  Inserting an appropriation for the oversight coordinator position and necessary support staff positions for the Commission; and

 

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

 

     Your Committee notes that, should your Committee on Finance decide to hear this measure, the recommended appropriation amount for the oversight coordinator position and necessary support staff positions for the Commission is $330,000.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Corrections, Military, & Veterans that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 664, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 664, S.D. 1, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs.

 

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Corrections, Military, & Veterans,

 

 

 

 

____________________________

TAKASHI OHNO, Chair