HB1721.DOC

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that the Oahu community correctional center is more than one hundred years old and no longer properly serves the needs of its overall inmate population or the surrounding community of Kalihi. As the largest jail facility in the State, the sixteen-acre, nine hundred fifty-bed Oahu community correctional center has outdated security infrastructure and is overcrowded, which has contributed to conditions that have allowed multiple inmate escapes.

The Oahu community correctional center cannot accommodate current and projected detention needs. The director of public safety has stated that rebuilding the Oahu community correctional center at its current Kalihi site is not a viable option, in large part because renovation would be cost-prohibitive. Upgrading the aging Oahu community correctional Center will be equally or more expensive than building a new facility in another location.

Kalihi is not an appropriate place for a community correctional center since its immediate surrounding area contains a park, schools, homes, small businesses, and other commercial establishments. The presence of the Oahu community correctional center has historically discouraged development in Kalihi and currently jeopardizes the Kalihi community's opportunity to benefit from transit-related development and redevelopment projects.

The State is currently evaluating proposals that would expand the Halawa correctional facility, including by combining it with the Oahu community correctional center, to take advantage of the efficiencies and money-saving practices of consolidation.

Relocating the Oahu community correctional center will generate land development opportunities on the current Kalihi site and spur private-public partnerships that could improve Kalihi and offset the cost of a consolidated jail without an undue fiscal burden on the State through the sale or long-term lease of the Kalihi site.

If developed appropriately, the Kalihi site is well situated to become a major center of economic activity, generate tax revenues and lease-rent income for the State and property tax revenues for the city and county of Honolulu, and benefit from private development related to transit-oriented growth.

The purpose of this Act is to provide the State with appropriate correctional facilities by:

(1) Requiring the department of public safety to construct a multi-story correctional facility at the Halawa correctional facility to replace the existing Oahu community correctional center;

(2) Requiring the director of public safety to commission a study on the feasibility of having the State redevelop the land that is currently occupied by the Oahu community correctional center to benefit the Kalihi community and the State; and

(3) Appropriating funds for the construction of the correctional facility and the feasibility study as defined by this Act.

SECTION 2. (a) The department of public safety shall construct a multi-story correctional facility at the Halawa correctional facility to replace the existing Oahu community correctional center; provided that the new facility shall:

(1) Provide housing for at least one thousand five hundred inmates; and

(2) Accommodate the inmates and the services currently housed at the Oahu community correctional center.

(b) The department of public safety may enter into a public-private partnership to plan, design, and construct the multi-story correctional facility.

(c) As part of the planning process, the department of public safety shall hold a community partnering meeting to receive community input and comments regarding the proposed location, size, programming, and other matters pertaining to the multi-story correctional facility.

(d) The multi-story correctional facility shall be a secure, minimum- to medium-security community correctional facility designed to provide intensive in-house rehabilitation programs for the treatment of chemical dependency and abuse and other mental health problems.

(e) The multi-story correctional facility shall be designed to be operated by the State with the capability of providing a range of programs that address education, prevention, and treatment and are directed at preventing drug and substance abuse and treating other mental health problems.

SECTION 3. (a) The director of public safety shall commission a study on the feasibility of State redevelopment of the land that is currently occupied by the Oahu community correctional center to benefit the Kalihi community and the State.

(b) The feasibility study shall include but not be limited to consideration of the following:

(1) Forming partnerships with the private sector to generate revenue and innovative development opportunities from the land that is currently occupied by the Oahu community correctional center;

(2) Revitalizing Kalihi and promoting Kalihi as a major center of economic activity while ensuring the State and the Kalihi community gain economic and other benefits from private development related to transit-oriented growth; and

(3) Exploring the sale or long-term lease of the land currently occupied by the Oahu community correctional center to generate tax revenues and lease-rent income for the State and property tax revenues for the city and county of Honolulu.

(c) In conducting the feasibility study, the commissioned party may consult with the attorney general, comptroller, director of finance, chairperson of the board of land and natural resources, executive director and chief executive officer of the Honolulu authority for rapid transportation, and individuals possessing expertise in the redevelopment of state land.

(d) The director of public safety shall submit the feasibility study, including its findings, recommendations and any proposed legislation, to the legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the regular session of 2017.

SECTION 4. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $ or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2016-2017 for the construction of a new correctional facility at the site of the Halawa correctional facility and for a feasibility study in accordance with this Act.

The sum appropriated shall be expended by the department of public safety for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 5. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2016.

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	1721
TWENTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE, 2016
STATE OF HAWAII