HCR135.DOC

WHEREAS, the Legislature adopted House Concurrent Resolution No. 250 (2006) requesting the Hawaii County Office of the Prosecuting Attorney to conduct a study, based upon available information, on the feasibility of establishing receiving homes in East and West Hawaii; and

WHEREAS, House Concurrent Resolution No. 250 (2006) requested the Hawaii County Office of the Prosecuting Attorney to identify and examine each of the following areas relating to juvenile justice:

(1) Available data and rationale regarding the current processes used in handling juveniles;

(2) Feasibility of a single point of entry for youth into the juvenile justice or social service system;

(3) Development of a system-wide screening and assessment instrument to be used when the youth first enters the juvenile justice or social service system;

(4) Existing federal and state laws and local and agency rules relating to confidentiality, privacy, and privilege and their impact on interagency information sharing;

(5) Existing regulatory and licensing requirements for youth care providers, facilities, and services and their effect on establishing receiving facilities;

(6) Development of a system of interagency information sharing to reduce service redundancy; and

(7) Existing programs and resources and those that need to be developed to prevent or reduce gaps in service; and

WHEREAS, in response to House Concurrent Resolution No. 250 (2006), the Hawaii County Office of the Prosecuting Attorney issued a Report on the Feasibility of Establishing Receiving Homes in East and West Hawaii County, that recommended the creation of a pilot Big Island Juvenile Intake and Assessment Center in Pahoa, Hawaii; and

WHEREAS, the proposed Big Island Juvenile Intake and Assessment Center would initially serve about forty youths per month at a pilot project in Pahoa with future sites proposed for Naalehu, Waimea, Kailua, and Hilo on the island of Hawaii; and

WHEREAS, the Big Island Juvenile Intake and Assessment Center would provide a critically needed single point of entry for intake, assessment, and case management of delinquent and at-risk youth; and

WHEREAS, the benefits of the Big Island Juvenile Intake and Assessment Center would be as follows:

(1) For law enforcement:

(A) Community-based central receiving facility eliminates confusion about juvenile dispositions;

(B) Promotes public safety by freeing up police to return to other duties;

(D) Reduces expenditure of time associated with juvenile processing and additional police cost;

(2) For the courts and probation:

(A) Assists by compiling background information and conducting early screening and assessments to help guide decision-makers; and

(B) Provides judges with an opportunity for earlier assessment and referral to community-based service;

(3) For youth-serving agencies and programs:

(A) Fosters cooperation and communication;

(B) Reduces information redundancy, freeing up workers for more direct service contacts and reducing agency costs;

(D) Reduces fragmentation and gaps in service delivery; and

(E) Multi-disciplinary approach addresses "the whole child";

(4) For youth and families:

(A) Provides a caring, safe, and secure environment;

(B) Provides a seamless array of services due to the multidisciplinary approach;

(D) Screening and assessment is community-based; and

(E) Justice is restorative and immediate; and

(5) For the public:

(A) Reduces juvenile justice and police costs; and

(B) Enhances juvenile accountability; and

WHEREAS, House Bill No. 844 called for the appropriation of $1,600,000 to fund a pilot Big Island Juvenile Intake and Assessment Center in Pahoa, an appropriation that could not be funded in the present economic climate; and

WHEREAS, it is in the interest of juvenile justice in the State of Hawaii that the concept of a juvenile intake and assessment center be reaffirmed and promoted; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-fifth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2009, the Senate concurring, that the Legislature strongly supports the concept of establishing a system of juvenile intake and assessment centers, as embodied by the proposed pilot Big Island Juvenile Intake and Assessment Center, throughout the State; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Governor, the Director of Health, the Director of Human Services, the Superintendent of Education, the Chief Justice and the Administrative Director of the Courts, and the Prosecuting Attorney of the County of Hawaii.

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title:

Big Island Juvenile Intake and Assessment Center

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.C.R. NO.	135
TWENTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE, 2009
STATE OF HAWAII