STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2165

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2115

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 2115 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE ROOM CONFINEMENT OF MINORS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to protect minors who are being confined at detention and shelter facilities by defining specific conditions and time limits under which they may be confined.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Judiciary, Department of Human Services, Office of the Public Defender, and Office of Youth Services. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Hawaii Disability Rights Center.

Your Committee finds that over the past decade, Hawaii's juvenile justice system has undergone a major philosophical shift toward evidence-based and trauma responsive approaches for holding youth accountable for their conduct. In keeping with the significant advances in how to handle youth, facilities that rely on room confinement to control youth must also change their approach. Your Committee also finds that long periods of isolation have negative consequences for youth as they are especially vulnerable to the mental and emotional effects of room confinement. Room confinement poses a safety risk for youth, including the increased likelihood of self-harm, suicide, and retraumatizing those who were already victimized. Your Committee finds that codifying these confinement conditions and limitations will better protect minors.

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 S.B. No. 2115 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary.

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