STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3037

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 2051

H.D. 1

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2018

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred H.B. No. 2051, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE WEED AND SEED STRATEGY,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate monies for grants to maintain the weed and seed strategy of collaborative efforts to reclaim, restore, and rebuild communities.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of the Attorney General, Oahu County Committee on Legislative Priorities of the Democratic Party of Hawai‘i, and eighteen individuals.

Your Committee finds that the weed and seed strategy is the result of a program initiated by the United States Department of Justice in 1991 in an attempt to weed out violent crime, gang activity, and drug use and trafficking in target areas and then seed the target area by restoring the neighborhood through social and economic revitalization. Since the strategy's implementation in Hawaii, partners among law enforcement and members of the community have reported significant reductions in criminal activity and improved relations between law enforcement and the public in areas such as Waipahu, Kalihi, and Chinatown. With respect to the amount of funding necessary to maintain the weed and seed strategy, your Committee notes that Weed and Seed Hawaii, Inc., has completed an application for a grant-in-aid requesting $400,000 for fiscal year 2019.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion; and

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

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2051, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2051, 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 Committee on Judiciary,

________________________________

BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair