Bill Text: HI HR161 | 2014 | Regular Session | Introduced

Hawaii House Resolution 161 (Prior Session Legislation)

Introduced

Bill Title: Halawa Correctional Facility; Oahu Community Correctional Center; Consolidation; Redevelopment

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 5-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2014-03-12 - Referred to PBS, WAL, referral sheet 33 [HR161 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2014-HR161-Introduced.html

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.R. NO.	161
TWENTY-SEVENTH LEGISLATURE, 2014
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE RESOLUTION

urging the governor to consolidate the oahu community correctional center within the halawa correctional facility and to facilitate the redevelopment of the land currently occupied by the oahu community correctional center to benefit the kalihi community and the state.

WHEREAS, built in 1916, the Oahu Community Correctional Center no longer properly serves the needs of its overall inmate population or the surrounding community of Kalihi; and

WHEREAS, as the largest jail facility in the State, the 16-acre, 950-bed Oahu Community Correctional Center has outdated security infrastructure and is overcrowded, which has contributed to conditions that have allowed multiple escapes; and

WHEREAS, the Oahu Community Correctional Center cannot accommodate current and projected detention needs, and this situation has prompted the State to request more information on the construction of a new, 1,125-bed Oahu Community Correctional Center to be relocated from the current Kalihi site; and

WHEREAS, Kalihi is not an appropriate place for the Oahu Community Correctional Center since its immediate surrounding area contains a park, schools, homes, small businesses, and other commercial establishments; and

WHEREAS, the Director of Public Safety has stated that rebuilding the Oahu Community Correctional Center at its current Kalihi site is not a viable option and that the administration has expressed willingness to consider its relocation; and

WHEREAS, the Oahu Community Correctional Center also sits along the future route of the Honolulu rail transit project, and its presence will hinder the rail-related growth of the surrounding community; and

WHEREAS, the State is currently evaluating proposals that would expand the Halawa Correctional Facility, including combining it with the Oahu Community Correctional Center, to take advantage of the efficiencies of consolidation; and

WHEREAS, consolidation is fiscally prudent because upgrading the aging Oahu Community Correctional Center has the potential of being equally or more expensive than building a new facility in another location; and

WHEREAS, relocating the Oahu Community Correctional Center would generate land development opportunities on the current Kalihi site; and

WHEREAS, the sale or long-term lease of the Kalihi site could be used to offset the cost of a new or consolidated jail and, if zoned appropriately, the Kalihi site could be turned into a major center of economic activity generating tax revenues and lease-rent income for the State and property tax revenues for the City and County of Honolulu; and

WHEREAS, the redevelopment of the Kalihi site could function as a magnet for future development and revitalization; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-seventh Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2014, that the Governor is urged to consolidate the Oahu Community Correctional Center within the Halawa Correctional Facility and to facilitate redevelopment of the land that is currently occupied by the Oahu Community Correctional Center to benefit the Kalihi community and the State; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Governor, Director of Public Safety, and chairperson of the Kalihi-Palama Neighborhood Board.