STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2112

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2452

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. 2452 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 Auditor to conduct a management audit of the Corrections Division of the Department of Public Safety.

Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Office of the Auditor and Department of Public Safety.

Your Committee finds that correctional facilities throughout the State face issues of overcrowding and understaffing, creating threats to the safety and well-being of the corrections officers working in these correctional facilities. Despite this, the most recent studies and reviews of the security staffing needs of each correctional facility were in 1992 and 1996, pursuant to Act 300, Session Laws of Hawaii 1992, and Act 287, Session Laws of Hawaii 1996, respectively. Further, while the Office of the Auditor collected data on correctional facility staffing in 2015 for the purposes of an audit, the office did not complete the audit due to a change in office leadership. This measure will promote the safety and well-being of the corrections officers working in correctional facilities by requiring the Auditor to conduct a management audit of the Corrections Division of the Department of Public Safety.

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. 2452 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,

________________________________

CLARENCE K. NISHIHARA, Chair