STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2014

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2025

RE: S.B. No. 104

S.D. 2

H.D. 3

Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2025

State of Hawaii

Madame:

Your Committee on Finance, to which was referred S.B. No. 104, S.D. 2, H.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CORRECTIONS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to:

(1) Restrict the use of restrictive housing in state-operated and state-contracted correctional facilities, with certain exceptions;

(2) Require the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to develop policies and implement procedures regarding restrictive housing by July 1, 2026, and by April 1, 2026, develop policies and implement procedures to review committed persons placed in restrictive housing and develop a plan to step down current and prospective restrictive housing commitments;

(3) Require the Hawaii Correctional System Oversight Commission to review certain housing placements; and

(4) Require status reports on the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation's progress toward full compliance of this measure.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs; Hawaii Correctional System Oversight Commission; Hawaii Disability Rights Center; Easterseals Hawaii; Hawaiʻi Friends of Restorative Justice; Community Alliance on Prisons; American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaiʻi; and three individuals. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Restricting the use of restrictive housing in correctional facilities by July 1, 2026;

(2) Deleting restrictions on the use of restrictive housing that do not comport with certain standards or best practices;

(3) Amending various durations, deadlines, and frequency relating to the placement of committed persons in restrictive housing during a facility-wide lockdown, in emergency confinement, or in medical isolation;

(4) Amending the prohibition on the placement of certain committed persons in restrictive housing except under certain conditions and deleting all references to members of a vulnerable population;

(5) Amending the requirements of mandatory periodic training of staff who interact with committed persons held in restrictive housing;

(6) Amending the scope of the Hawaii Correctional System Oversight Commission's review of restrictive housing placements and requiring annual, rather than quarterly, reports;

(7) Requiring a Restrictive Housing Legislative Working Group to be convened by August 1, 2025, to make recommendations by September 1, 2027, for restrictive housing for committed persons who are members of vulnerable populations, rather than requiring the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitations to develop policies and procedures regarding restrictive housing by July 1, 2026;

(8) Authorizing the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to implement the recommendations of the Restrictive Housing Legislative Working Group by December 1, 2027;

(9) Requiring interim and final reports to the Legislature and Hawaii Correctional System Oversight Commission; and

(10) 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 Finance that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 104, S.D. 2, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 104, S.D. 2, H.D. 3.

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

____________________________

KYLE T. YAMASHITA, Chair