77
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES             H.C.R. NO.            H.D. 1
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2000                                S.D. 1
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                     HOUSE  CONCURRENT
                        RESOLUTION
  REQUESTING THE STATE HEALTH PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT AGENCY TO
    DEVELOP A DEPARTMENTAL PUBLIC INFORMATION MEETING PROCESS
    FOR ANY PROPOSED UTILIZATION OF AN EXISTING STRUCTURE OR
    CONSTRUCTION OF A NEW STRUCTURE FOR ANY PURPOSE INVOLVING
    MENTAL HEALTH OR PUBLIC SAFETY IN A COMMUNITY.



 1        WHEREAS, the State needs a treatment facility in Hawaii
 2   for juvenile sex offenders to rehabilitate these children at
 3   home in Hawaii, close to their families; and
 4   
 5        WHEREAS, the Department of Health has planned, and has
 6   begun construction of a full-time residential treatment
 7   facility to treat up to ten children aged twelve to seventeen
 8   who have exhibited inappropriate sexual behavior at the Waimano
 9   Training School and Hospital in Pearl City, which is set to be
10   turned over to the Department of Land and Natural Resources on
11   July 1, 2000; and
12   
13        WHEREAS, these youths, now being treated on the Mainland,
14   would receive mental health therapy required by the Felix
15   Consent Decree; and
16   
17        WHEREAS, unfortunately, although scheduled to open in
18   June, 2000, the Department of Health did not inform the
19   community of its plans until January, 2000, by which time
20   construction on the facility had already begun; and
21   
22        WHEREAS, although the Legislature appropriated $1,500,000
23   for such a facility two years ago, the site for the proposed
24   facility had not been considered at the time; and
25   
26        WHEREAS, proposing a mental health treatment center for
27   juvenile sex offenders would raise concerns in any
28   neighborhood, but especially if the community in which the
29   proposed use is intended is not informed and input is not
30   solicited; and
31   
32        WHEREAS, earlier communication and community involvement
33   would have led to community-approved safety and security
34   measures as part of the planning, design, and construction of

 
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                                  H.C.R. NO.            H.D. 1
                                                        S.D. 1
                                                        

 
 1   the project; and
 2   
 3        WHEREAS, because a proposed youth facility of this sort
 4   would clearly affect any community, it is in the public
 5   interest to require a social impact statement and ancillary
 6   public hearings to be held in a community whenever a proposal
 7   is made to utilize an existing structure or to construct a new
 8   structure in that community for any purpose involving mental
 9   health or public safety; now, therefore,
10   
11        BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the
12   Twentieth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session
13   of 2000, the Senate concurring, that the State Health Planning
14   and Development Agency is requested to work with the
15   appropriate state departments, such as the Department of
16   Health, Department of Human Services, or Department of Public
17   Safety, to develop a departmental public information meeting
18   process for purchase of service, capital improvement project,
19   or repair and maintenance contracts that would require public
20   information meetings be held within three months of the
21   contract award date, and that the information from such public
22   information meetings be forwarded to the purchase of service,
23   capital improvement project, or repair and maintenance
24   applicants for incorporation in their grant proposal; and 
25   
26        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the State Health Planning and
27   Development Agency is requested to submit to the Legislature a
28   report and any proposed legislation for the 2001 Session not
29   later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular
30   Session of 2001; and
31   
32        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this
33   Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Director of Health
34   and the Administrator of the State Health Planning and
35   Development Agency.