STAND. COM. REP. NO.  595

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2017

RE:   H.B. No. 462

      H.D. 1

Honorable Joseph M. Souki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2017

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Public Safety, to which was referred H.B. No. 462 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CORRECTIONAL FACILITIES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to require the Department of Public Safety to solicit proposals for a new correctional facility at the site of the Waiawa Correctional Facility.

The Department of Public Safety; Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu; United Public Workers AFSCME, Local 646, AFL-CIO; Hoomana Pono, LLC.; and a concerned individual supported this measure.  The Libertarian Party of Hawaii, Hawaii Friends of Restorative Justice, Community Alliance on Prisons, American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii, Hawaii Innocence Project, and many concerned individuals opposed this measure.  Department of the Attorney General, Office of Hawaiian Affairs, and a concerned individual offered comments on the measure.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1) Requiring the new correctional facility at Waiawa Correctional Facility to:

          (A)  Provide a range of custody levels;

          (B)  Be designed to house inmates depending on their security levels;

          (C)  Include opportunities for counseling, vocational training, and education; and

          (D)  Be operated by public employees;

     (2)  Suspending the current environmental impact statement process for four proposed sites for a new Oahu Community Correctional Center until the Department of Public Safety addresses specific requirements such as considering alternative sites 4.5 acres in size or larger, consulting with appropriate public safety and correctional stakeholders on the facility's appropriate size and design, and providing a report to the Legislature;

     (3)  Changing its effective date to July 1, 2099; and

     (4)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for clarity, consistency, and style.

     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. 462, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 462, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Finance.

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

____________________________

GREGG TAKAYAMA, Chair