STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3092

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 2685

       H.D. 1

       S.D. 1

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2008

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Public Safety, to which was referred H.B. No. 2685, H.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 direct the Department of Public Safety and Office of Planning to plan and design the construction and operation of a new minimum-security facility that has appropriate access to various support facilities and services for the inmates.

     Specifically, this measure requires that the new minimum-security facility have access to courts, public transportation, other support services.

     Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the Hawaii Building and Construction Trades Council, AFL-CIO.  Testimony in opposition of this measure was submitted by the Department of Public Safety, Community Alliance on Prisons, and four individual citizens.  Comments on this measure were submitted by the Office of Planning.

     Your Committee finds that providing inmates with support facilities, such as a drug rehabilitation center, and support services, such as transitional or reintegration programs, that are in a close proximity to a correctional facility is a very important step in the inmate being successfully reintegrated into the community.

     Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Deleting references to the Office of Planning and replacing those references with the Department of Accounting and General Services; and

     (2)  Amending this measure to include an emphasis on the establishment of a drug rehabilitation center and transitional or reintegration programs.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Public Safety that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2685, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2685, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Public Safety,

____________________________

WILL ESPERO, Chair