STAND. COM. REP. NO.  1028

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2017

RE:   H.B. No. 462

      H.D. 2

Honorable Joseph M. Souki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2017

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Finance, to which was referred H.B. No. 462, H.D. 1, entitled:

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

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to mitigate prison overcrowding by:

     (1)  Requiring the Department of Public Safety to solicit proposals for the purchase or construction of a new correctional facility at the site of the Waiawa Correctional Facility;

     (2)  Temporarily suspending the Environmental Impact Statement process for the potential sites for the proposed Oahu Community Correctional Center (OCCC); and

     (3)  Upon completion of the new correctional facility, relocating the operations of OCCC to the vacated site of the Halawa 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; and several concerned individuals supported this measure.  The Community Alliance on Prisons; Mililani Town, Waipio, and Melemanu Neighborhood Board No. 25; and numerous concerned individuals opposed this measure.  The Department of the Attorney General, Office of Hawaiian Affairs, and American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii provided comments.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Removing the requirement that the solicitation for the purchase or construction of a 3,000-bed correctional facility be at the site of the Waiawa Correctional Facility and be able to house the current inmate population; and

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

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Finance that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 462, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 462, H.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Finance,

____________________________

SYLVIA LUKE, Chair