STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1043

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 478

       H.D. 1

       S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2017

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committees on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs and Agriculture and Environment, to which was referred H.B. No. 478, H.D. 1, 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 appropriate funds for:

     (1)  A full-time agricultural management position and equipment for Kulani Correctional Facility agriculture operations; and

     (2)  A full-time agricultural management position for Waiawa Correctional Facility agriculture operations.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Public Safety; Community Alliance on Prisons; Ho‘omana Pono, LLC; and five individuals.

     Your Committees find that agricultural programs at correctional facilities provide numerous benefits for the correctional system and inmates.  A rise in the prison population has led to an important need for correctional facilities and agencies to cut costs.  One means of reducing correctional costs is to produce food in-house through agricultural programs.  These types of agricultural programs provide the additional benefit of furthering inmate rehabilitation by teaching inmates a variety of technical skills and trades.  Further, inmates working on prison farm programs tend to be less aggressive and less prone to recidivism.  Accordingly, this measure appropriates funds for a full-time agricultural management position and equipment for Kulani Correctional Facility agricultural operations and for a full-time agricultural management position and equipment for Waiawa Correctional Facility agriculture operations.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

     (1)  Inserting a blank appropriation for equipment for Waiawa Correctional Facility agriculture operations;

     (2)  Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2017; and

     (3)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs and Agriculture and Environment that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 478, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 478, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs and Agriculture and Environment,

________________________________ MIKE GABBARD, Chair

________________________________ CLARENCE K. NISHIHARA, Chair