Bill Text: HI HCR88 | 2023 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Requesting The Judiciary To Prepare A Master Development Plan, Including A Capitol Improvement Project Request, To Upgrade The South Kohala District Court.

Spectrum: Strong Partisan Bill (Democrat 19-1)

Status: (Passed) 2023-04-24 - Resolution adopted in final form. [HCR88 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2023-HCR88-Introduced.html

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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.C.R. NO.	88
THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2023
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

requesting the judiciary to prepare a master development plan, including a capitol improvement project request, to upgrade the south kohala district court.

 

 

 

     WHEREAS, the South Kohala District Court complex is located in Waimea, which is a one-hour drive from both Hilo and Kona, the two larger population centers on Hawaii island; and

 

     WHEREAS, the population of Waimea has nearly doubled in twenty years from seven thousand to nearly fourteen thousand residents; and

 

     WHEREAS, neighboring communities in North Kohala, Kawaihae, Waikoloa, Hamakua, Waikii, and the South Kohala Coast rely on crucial government services in Waimea, including access to the District Court; and

 

     WHEREAS, Waimea needs a bigger District Court complex, a District Court Judge, and Circuit Court Judge to serve the large geographical area and its growing population; and

 

     WHEREAS, the current complex does not have adequate seating capacity and people often must wait outside; some days as many as fifty individuals are forced to wait outside; and

 

     WHEREAS, Waimea is at nearly a two thousand seven hundred-foot elevation level and is exposed to trade winds and rain; and

 

     WHEREAS, the restroom facilities are inadequate with just one male and one female restroom, with one stall each, and are located within the security check point and not easily accessible to the parties waiting outside; and

 

     WHEREAS, the public has been told that they cannot file family court documents at the South Kohala District Court, forcing them to go to either Hilo or Kona; and

 

     WHEREAS, for temporary restraining order cases, there is no separate waiting area for the opposing parties, which creates stressful, if not dangerous, situations in which the opposing parties may encounter each other outside of the courtroom; and

 

     WHEREAS, this serious lack of judiciary facilities in South Kohala can only be remedied by an objective evaluation of the demand for these facilities and a determination of how these needs can be met; and

 

     WHEREAS, this evaluation and analysis would provide the necessary information to prepare a master development plan to upgrade the South Kohala District Court complex; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Thirty-second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2023, the Senate concurring, that the Judiciary is requested to prepare a master development plan for the South Kohala District Court complex, including a cost estimate to plan, design, and construct the upgraded facility as a capital improvement project; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Judiciary is requested to submit a capital improvement project request for the planning, design, and construction for an upgraded South Kohala District Court to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2024; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Chief Justice and Administrator Director of the Courts.

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title: 

South Kohala District Court; Master Development Plan; Capital Improvement Project; Upgrade