STAND. COM. REP. NO. 725

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 664

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2021

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred S.B. No. 664 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC SAFETY,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to require the Department of Public Safety to develop the new Oahu Community Correctional Center (OCCC).

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Accounting and General Services, Department of Public Safety, and one individual. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the American Civil Liberties Union Hawai‘i, Young Progressives Demanding Action, Community Alliance on Prisons, ‘Ekolu Mea Nui, and forty-six individuals.

Your Committee finds that a new correctional facility is needed for the Department of Public Safety to fulfill its mandate of providing safe and secure services to incarcerated individuals. The current facility is over one hundred years old and its aging buildings face escalating maintenance costs and contribute to the lack of a safe and efficient work environment. Additionally, the facility is unable to address detainees with special needs or mental health issues although at any given time between 9.5 and twelve percent of OCCC's population is deemed to fall into this category. Currently, OCCC is operating at one hundred twenty-seven percent of its capacity. The Department of Public Safety has estimated that a new 1,380-bed jail to replace OCCC would cost $525,000,000 or $380,000 per bed. Additionally, the State seeks to spend an additional $45,000,000 to expand the Women's Community Correctional Center to accommodate the women previously held at OCCC.

Your Committee has amended this measure by inserting an effective date of May 6, 2137, to encourage further discussion.

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 S.B. No. 664, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 664, S.D. 1.

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

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KARL RHOADS, Chair