STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3428

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.C.R. No. 89

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Public Safety and Military Affairs and Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred S.C.R. No. 89 entitled:

"SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE HAWAII CORRECTIONAL SYSTEM OVERSIGHT COMMISSION TO ESTABLISH AN ADVISORY COMMITTEE TO DEVELOP RECOMMENDATIONS ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF ALTERNATIVE MODELS FOR REHABILITATION AND RESTORATIVE JUSTICE ON OʻAHU,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to request the Hawaii Correctional System Oversight Commission to establish an advisory committee to develop recommendations on the implementation of Alternative Models for Rehabilitation and Restorative Justice on Oʻahu

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Office of the Public Defender, Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Hawaii Correctional System Oversight Commission, Aliʻi Pauahi Hawaiian Civic Club, Community Alliance on Prisons, Imua Alliance, ʻEkolu Mea Nui, and three individuals.

Your Committees received comments on this measure from Ohana Hoʻopakele.

Your Committees find that the Breaking Cycles: Alternative Models for Rehabilitative and Restorative Justice on Oʻahu Study (Breaking Cycles Study) provides a comprehensive, community informed framework for transforming the State's correctional system into one that is holistic, health-centered, and trauma‑informed. Proceeding with new jail construction without a comprehensive, rehabilitative framework risks perpetuating the very cycles of incarceration the State seeks to address. Crucially, planning efforts must be grounded in a clear, system‑wide strategy centered on rehabilitation, diversion, and reentry. This measure represents a necessary and timely step toward ensuring that the State’s investments in correctional infrastructure and policy are guided by a cohesive, evidence‑based, and culturally grounded vision.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Requesting that the advisory committee include the following:

(A) Two members with lived experience as incarcerated individuals, comprising one male member and one female member, to be invited by the Chairperson; and

(B) Two adult corrections officers who participated in the in the Hawaii Correctional System Oversight Commission's staff survey, to be invited by the Chairperson; and

(2) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Public Safety and Military Affairs and Hawaiian Affairs that are attached to this report, your Committees concur with the intent and purpose of S.C.R. No. 89, as amended herein, and recommend its adoption in the form attached hereto as S.C.R. No. 89, S.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Public Safety and Military Affairs and Hawaiian Affairs,

________________________________ HERBERT M. RICHARDS, III, Chair

________________________________ CAROL FUKUNAGA, Chair