STAND. COM. REP. NO 50

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 664

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 664 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CORRECTIONS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to establish a minimum educational requirement for adult corrections officers that are hired for the first time in the State.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Public Safety and two individuals.

     Your Committee finds that adult corrections officers are responsible for maintaining security and preventing violence in the State's jails and prisons.  The work of an adult corrections officer can be demanding, and it is imperative that adult corrections officers possess critical thinking and interpersonal skills.  The requirement that newly hired adult corrections officers have a high school diploma, at minimum, will provide better assurances that adult corrections officers have the skills needed to maintain security and communicate efficiently.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 664 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Labor.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs,

____________________________

WILL ESPERO, Chair