Bill Text: HI SCR169 | 2017 | Regular Session | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Requesting The State To Modernize Its Disaster Preparedness Plans.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2017-04-28 - Received notice of appointment of House conferees (Hse. Com. No. 634). [SCR169 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2017-SCR169-Introduced.html

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THE SENATE	S.C.R. NO.	169
TWENTY-NINTH LEGISLATURE, 2017
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

Requesting the department of public safety, pursuant to the recommendation of the task force established to study effective incarceration policies to improve hawaii's correctional system, to delay plans to build a new correctional facility on oahu until the Task force issues its final report that will provide a comprehensive road map for reforming Hawaii's correctional system.

 

 

     WHEREAS, the Department of Public Safety proposes to replace the current Oahu Community Correctional Center with a modern facility that broadens its custody and treatment scope and capability with county- and community-based correctional services; and

 

     WHEREAS, eleven parcels of land ten acres or greater in size have been identified as potential development sites for the proposed replacement facility; and

 

     WHEREAS, the environmental impact statement process has begun for the four potential sites short-listed by the Department of Public Safety for the proposed replacement of the Oahu Community Correctional Center; and

 

     WHEREAS, legislation is currently being considered that directs the Department of Public Safety to suspend the current environmental impact statement process for the proposed replacement of the Oahu Community Correctional Center and instead solicit proposals for a larger correctional facility at the site of the Waiawa Correctional Facility that would be capable of also housing Hawaii inmates currently housed out of state; and

 

     WHEREAS, a thirteen-member task force was established by H.C.R. No. 85, H.D. 2, S.D. 1 (H.C.R. No. 85), Regular Session of 2016, to study effective incarceration policies to improve Hawaii's correctional system; and

 

     WHEREAS, members of the task force include public safety officials, former prisoners, and chairpersons of the legislative committees that oversee public safety; and

 

     WHEREAS, the House of Representatives Committee on Public Safety and the Senate Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs held a joint informational briefing on February 23, 2017, to discuss the progress of the task force; and

 

     WHEREAS, the task force suggested at the briefing that current planning for development of new correctional facilities may be premature as the task force is looking at options to significantly reduce the State's inmate population and create a more cost-effective system focusing on rehabilitation rather than punishment; and

 

     WHEREAS, policies the task force is studying to reduce the incarceration rate include providing nonmonetary bail options, increasing substance abuse treatment programs, and improving support systems for parolees to reduce recidivism; and

 

     WHEREAS, the task force is also recommending that the State expand its substance abuse treatment courts, create an academy to train correctional workers, and increase efforts to reduce the incarceration rate of Native Hawaiians; and

 

     WHEREAS, it is the recommendation of the task force that the State delay plans to build a new correctional facility on Oahu until the task force can issue its final report that will provide a comprehensive road map for reforming Hawaii's correctional system; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-ninth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2017, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Department of Public Safety is requested, pursuant to the recommendation of the task force established pursuant to H.C.R. No. 85, Regular Session of 2016, to delay plans to build a new correctional facility on Oahu until the task force issues its final report that will provide a comprehensive road map for reforming Hawaii's correctional system, which is due no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2018; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the final report of the task force identify sites ten acres or less in size to reflect that modern facilities can be developed vertically; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that all state laws, including those laws pertaining to environmental impact statements and environmental assessments, and county ordinances shall be complied with in the process of studying and developing a new correctional facility; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Governor, Director of Public Safety; provided that the Director of Public Safety is requested to transmit copies of this Concurrent Resolution to the members of the task force created by H.C.R. No. 85, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, Regular Session of 2016.

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title: 

Department of Public Safety; Oahu Correctional Center; Task Force