Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2001

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Public Safety and Military Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 120, S.D. 2, entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure as received by your Committee is to establish gender-responsive community-based programs for female offenders.

The Department of Public Safety, the Hawaii State Commission on the Status of Women, the American Civil Liberties Union Hawaii, the Hawaii Youth Services Network, a member of the Maui County Council, the Community Alliance on Prisons, Hale `Opio Kaua`i, and numerous concerned individuals submitted testimony in support of this measure.

Your Committee notes that the original purpose of this measure will be incorporated into S.B. No. 119, S.D. 2, H.D. 1.

Your Committee finds that there is a lack of comprehensive data describing the population being served by the criminal justice system throughout the state. However, at this time there is a project known as the "sentencing simulation model" that has been underway for one fiscal year. Your Committee finds that continuing state matching funds for the second year of this three-year federal grant is a high priority. The information that this model will provide for the State will greatly assist policymakers in their efforts to make informed decisions concerning every aspect of the criminal justice system.

Your Committee also finds that privatizing the state corrections function represents a significant departure from the ordinary course of business in that it transfers not only the day-to-day operation of a correctional facility but accountability and control over that function as well. Because of the possibility of the failure of a private entity to fulfill that function, as demonstrated by the occasional failure of private prisons on the United States mainland to control inmates, your Committee finds that it is necessary to ensure that proper safeguards are retained so that the privatization of the correctional facility is successful.

Moreover, while the idea of privatizing a government function is not new, privatization of correctional facilities represents a new paradigm shift in Hawaii because of the scope and breadth of that project. Your Committee finds that there is a need to provide flexibility in contracting with a private entity, while at the same time ensuring the long-term viability of privatization through the satisfaction of criteria for the evaluation of the project and the cost of the project. Therefore, before entering into a contract with a private entity for the operation of minimum security correctional facilities, your Committee finds that there is a need to ensure that the private sector can in fact achieve this objective more efficiently and cost-effectively than the public sector.

Therefore, upon further consideration, your Committee has amended this measure by deleting its contents and inserting the contents of H.B. No. 962 which continues the sentencing simulation model and H.B. No. 177, H.D. 1, which authorizes the privatization of prisons. As amended, this measure:

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Public Safety and Military Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 120, S.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 120, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Finance.