HB462.DOC

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that most of the State's correctional facilities are extremely old, are in need of significant repair and maintenance, and lack the capacity to accommodate current and projected detention needs.

The Waiawa correctional facility is a minimum-security facility that houses about three hundred thirty adult male sentenced felons who participate in educational programs and community worklines.

The Halawa correctional facility consists of two separate facilities. The special-needs facility houses about one hundred maximum- and closed-custody inmates, inmates with severe or chronic mental illness who cannot be placed in the general population, and inmates who require protective custody. The medium-security prison facility houses approximately one thousand two hundred male sentenced felons.

To mitigate prison overcrowding, there are about one thousand four hundred male inmates from Halawa correctional facility who are housed in a contracted facility in Arizona at a cost of more than $40,000,000 annually.

The Oahu community correctional center is the largest jail facility in the State, housing about one thousand two hundred pre-trial detainees, short-term sentenced individuals, probation and parole violators, and a pre-release work furlough center.

The legislature further finds that the Waiawa correctional facility is located on one hundred ninety-seven acres in Central Oahu with ample land area for a new, higher-capacity correctional facility that could house additional inmates from Halawa correctional facility and house Hawaii inmates from the contracted facility in Arizona. This in turn would enable the relocation of the Oahu community correctional center to a renovated Halawa correctional facility.

The purpose of this Act is to:

(1) Require the department of public safety to solicit proposals for the purchase or construction of a three thousand-bed correctional facility at the site of the Waiawa correctional facility. The new facility shall be capable of housing the current inmate population of the Halawa correctional facility, Hawaii inmates now housed in Arizona, and the inmate population of existing Waiawa correctional facility; and

(2) Upon completion of the new correctional facility at the site of the Waiawa correctional facility, relocate the operations of the Oahu community correctional center to the vacated site of the Halawa correctional facility.

SECTION 2. (a) The department of public safety shall solicit proposals for the purchase or construction of a three thousand-bed correctional facility at the site of the Waiawa correctional facility that would be capable of housing the current inmate populations of the Halawa correctional facility, Hawaii inmates now housed in Arizona, and the inmate population of the existing Waiawa correctional facility.

(b) Upon completion of the new correctional facility at the site of the Waiawa correctional facility, the department of public safety shall relocate the operations of the Oahu community correctional center to the vacated site of the Halawa correctional facility.

SECTION 3. The department of public safety may enter into:

(1) A public-private partnership to plan, design, and construct the new correctional facility at the site of the Waiawa correctional facility; and

(2) A lease-option contract with any private owner of the new correctional facility at the site of the Waiawa correctional facility to rent the facility for a set amount of time before exercising the option to purchase the facility when or before the lease expires.

SECTION 4. The director of public safety shall submit a report to the legislature at least twenty days prior to the convening of the regular session of 2018, of its findings and recommendations, including:

(1) A list of proposals with total costs for the purchase or construction of a three thousand-bed correctional facility at the site of the Waiawa correctional facility in accordance with this Act;

(2) The feasibility of:

(A) Relocating the operations of the Oahu community correctional center to the vacated site of the Halawa correctional facility;

(B) Entering into a public-private partnership to plan, design, and construct the new correctional facility at the site of the Waiawa correctional facility; and

(C) Entering into a lease-option contract with any private owner of the new correctional facility at the site of the Waiawa correctional facility to rent the facility for a set amount of time before exercising the option to purchase the facility when or before the lease expires; and

(3) Any proposed legislation, any funding requests, and any other relevant information the director of public safety deems necessary to implement this Act.

SECTION 5. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	462
TWENTY-NINTH LEGISLATURE, 2017
STATE OF HAWAII