STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2961

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 2393

H.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 Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 2393, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT MAKING AN EMERGENCY APPROPRIATION TO THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to make an emergency appropriation to continue the temporary housing of inmates at a non-state facility for an additional six months while repairs and improvements are being made to the Halawa Correctional Facility.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Public Safety, Ho‘omanapono Political Action Committee, and Oahu County Committee on Legislative Priorities of the Democratic Party of Hawaii. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Community Alliance on Prisons.

Your Committee finds that ensuring the proper functioning of the State's correctional facilities is essential for maintaining public safety. The Halawa Correctional Facility is currently undergoing needed repairs and improvements to security electronics and hardware. In 2017, the Legislature allocated funds to the Department of Public Safety for temporary non-state housing for two hundred forty-eight inmates while the upgrades were being completed. The improvement project was scheduled to be completed in December 2017, but due to complications related to the specialty subcontractor's work and the time needed to hire a new vendor, the anticipated completion date for the project has been pushed back to October 2018. Consequently, funds will be needed to continue the temporary housing of the two hundred forty-eight inmates at a non-state facility for another six months to enable the project to move forward to completion. Accordingly, this measure makes an emergency appropriation to provide funds for the Department of Public Safety to pay for the necessary, temporary housing of the Halawa Correctional Facility inmates.

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 H.B. No. 2393, H.D. 1, and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

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

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CLARENCE K. NISHIHARA, Chair