STAND. COM. REP. NO. 203-22

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2022

RE: H.B. No. 2516

H.D. 1

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Corrections, Military, & Veterans, to which was referred H.B. No. 2516 entitled:

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

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to:

(1) Pause the public-private partnership for a new jail to replace the Oahu Community Correctional Center;

(2) Establish a criminal justice reform committee; and

(3) Appropriate funds for the operations of the criminal justice reform committee.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Hawai‘i Correctional System Oversight Commission, Office of the Public Defender, Pearl City Neighborhood Board No. 21, Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation, Community Alliance on Prisons, Common Cause Hawaii, Ohana Ho‘opakele, Pono Hawai‘i Initiative, Faith Action for Community Equity, Hawai‘i Alliance for Progressive Action, Malu ‘Aina, Kulanui.org, Hawaii Health & Harm Reduction Center, Hawai‘i Friends of Restorative Justice, and numerous individuals. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of Public Safety and three individuals. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Budget and Finance, Department of Accounting and General Services, and ACLU Hawaii.

Your Committee finds that on January 3, 2022, the Hawaii Correctional Systems Oversight Commission called on the State to stop the planned issuance of a request for qualifications and a request for proposals to build a new Oahu Community Correctional Center through a public-private partnership. The Hawaii Correctional Systems Oversight Commission noted that the jail now being planned is too big and will perpetuate a punitive model for the State's correctional system.

In addition, the Hawaii Correctional Systems Oversight Commission has called on government officials and a broad range of community stakeholders to collaborate on a jail that will meet the needs of the community.

Your Committee finds that the Hawaii Correctional Systems Oversight Commission should participate as a full partner in the planning, design, financing, developing, and construction of a new jail in a county having a population in excess of five hundred thousand.

Your Committee further finds that, with the participation of the existing Commission, formation of a new criminal justice reform committee is unnecessary.

Your Committee has amended this measure accordingly by:

(1) Deleting the proposed creation of a new criminal justice reform committee;

(2) Requiring that no planning, design, financing, development, or construction of a new jail in a county with a population exceeding five hundred thousand may proceed unless the Hawaii Correctional Systems Oversight Commission participates as a full partner;

(3) Deleting the reference to the Women's Community Correctional Center;

(4) Appropriating funds to the Hawaii Correctional Systems Oversight Commission rather than the new committee proposed by this measure;

(5) Changing the effective date to July 1, 3000, to encourage further discussion; and

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

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Corrections, Military, & Veterans that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2516, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2516, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Corrections, Military, & Veterans,

____________________________

TAKASHI OHNO, Chair