WHEREAS, Hawaii's prison system is bursting at the seams with a swelling inmate population, resulting in the imposition of inmate transfers to mainland prisons in order to control an otherwise extreme over-capacity and the possibility of a prison rights lawsuit; and

WHEREAS, the Oahu Community Correctional Center on Kamehameha Highway in Kalihi sits on land that has been described recently by a major real estate broker of commercial and industrial properties as being "highly valued and [which] could be an attractive investment opportunity in Hawaii's heated commercial real estate marketplace"; and

WHEREAS, the broker estimates that the industrial zoned land of the Oahu Community Correctional Center could be worth in excess of $85 per square foot or over $65,000,000; and

WHEREAS, the Animal Quarantine Center in Halawa has approximately 260 kennels in use, out of the 1,600 kennels in the facility, which are used far less than formerly as a result of the popular five-day rabies quarantine program initiated in June 2003; and

WHEREAS, the land under the Animal Quarantine Center in Halawa or adjacent state land to the current Halawa Correctional Facility, in whole or in part, could be an ideal location for a much-needed new prison facility to supplement the nearby Halawa Correctional Facility; and

WHEREAS, the Board of Agriculture is presently considering various lease options for the Animal Quarantine Center in Halawa; and

WHEREAS, the Department of Public Safety has plans to replace the Oahu Community Correctional Center by 2013; and

WHEREAS, more study is needed to determine the best use of the land under the Oahu Community Correctional Center and the land under the Animal Quarantine Center in Halawa; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-third Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2006, that the Department of Public Safety and the Department of Agriculture are requested to conduct a feasibility study on selling the land comprising the Oahu Community Correctional Facility on Kamehameha Highway and moving to the site of the Animal Quarantine Center in Halawa or adjacent state land to the Halawa Correctional Facility; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the report include, but not be limited to, the following information:

(6) Any other relevant information;

and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Public Safety and the Department of Agriculture are requested to jointly report to the Legislature with findings and recommendations no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2007; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Director of Public Safety, the Chair of the Board of Agriculture, and the Governor.

Report Title:

Oahu Community Correctional Center Land Sale; Relocation of OCCC