STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2403

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 3016

       S.D. 1

Honorable Shan S. Tsutsui

President of the Senate

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2012

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committees on Hawaiian Affairs and Water, Land, and Housing and Public Safety, Government Operations, and Military Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 3016 entitled:

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

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to require the Department of Public Safety to plan for a model wellness center that employs native Hawaiian cultural practices on state land and to submit a report to the Legislature prior to the 2013 Regular Session.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Public Safety, Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Papa Ola Lokahi, Community Alliance on Prisons, Drug Policy Forum of Hawai‘i, and eight individuals.  Comments were received from the Department of Land and Natural Resources.

     Your Committees find that the most recent information on the use of drugs, alcohol, and tobacco reveals a disturbing rise in the use of these substances among the native Hawaiian population.  Many studies conducted nationally and statewide show native Hawaiians to be at particularly high risk for substance abuse.  Among students in the eighth and tenth grades, native Hawaiian children rank highest among all ethnic groups in the use of these substances.  The studies also show that substance abuse starts at an early age.

     Your Committees further find that a pu‘uhonua, or wellness center, based on Hawaiian cultural practices will help the native Hawaiian community and the community at-large.  Unquestionably, many high risk individuals need to be cared for in a much more sensitive intervention program that will address solutions that will alleviate their problems.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1)  Adding a work release pilot program on the island of Hawaii under the Department of Public Safety to allow incarcerated individuals on the island of Hawaii to work on community projects on the island of Hawaii that benefit the local community and the State, if those individuals who would work outside a correctional facility as part of the work release pilot program pose no threat to public safety, as determined by the Director of Public Safety;

(2)  Requiring the Department of Land and Natural Resources to collaborate with the Department of Public Safety to identify any potential community projects on the island of Hawaii that could benefit from using incarcerated persons;

(3)  Authorizing the Department of Public Safety to provide for the shelter of incarcerated persons outside of a correctional facility while participating in the work release pilot program on the island of Hawaii; and

(4)  Allowing the Department of Public Safety to receive public and private grants for the purposes of the pilot program.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Hawaiian Affairs and Water, Land, and Housing and Public Safety, Government Operations, and Military Affairs that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 3016, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 3016, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Hawaiian Affairs and Water, Land, and Housing and Public Safety, Government Operations, and Military Affairs,

____________________________ DONOVAN M. DELA CRUZ, Chair	____________________________ BRICKWOOD GALUTERIA, Chair
	____________________________ WILL ESPERO, Chair