Bill Text: HI HB1263 | 2025 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relating To Corrections.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2025-01-27 - Referred to PBS, JHA, FIN, referral sheet 4 [HB1263 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2025-HB1263-Introduced.html

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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	1263
THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2025
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

 

relating to corrections.

 

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 

     SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that the departments of corrections and rehabilitation and accounting and general services and their consultants have spent more than seven years and nearly $25,000,000 planning a new jail to replace the existing Oahu community correctional center, but have failed to follow a systems approach to jail planning, which is considered a best practice to determining an appropriately sized jail and managing the jail population on a long-term basis.  A systems approach also shifts the nature of jail planning from simply making population forecasts based on past trends and the assumption that the policies driving the jail population will remain unchanged to developing a continuum of options for law enforcement and judges, in which jails are only one option among many and to be used sparingly and as a last resort.  Additionally, research by the Vera Institute of Justice has shown that if planners fail to address the policies and practices driving the jail population, a vicious cycle is created in which new jails that are supposed to reduce overcrowding rapidly fill to capacity, creating a demand for more capacity and precipitating a costly building cycle.

     The legislature further finds that as of December 2024, there were nine hundred forty-seven people incarcerated at the Oahu community correctional center.  Also, from 2021 to 2023, the department of corrections and rehabilitation has reported that approximately thirty to forty per cent of people incarcerated in Hawaii were homeless immediately prior to entry, with an even larger percentage of people exiting to homelessness after incarceration.

     The legislature also finds that the Hawaii correctional system oversight commission reported that eighty-six per cent of the State's corrections population needs substance use treatment at some level and that native Hawaiians are disproportionately incarcerated.  Additionally, of the nine hundred forty-seven people at the Oahu community correctional center, six hundred sixty-eight, or nearly seventy-one per cent, were pretrial status and remain in jail because they are unable to afford bail.  Furthermore, reducing and effectively managing the jail population is critical because of the costs associated with construction and operation of such facilities.

     The legislature finds that on January 3, 2025, the Hawaii correctional system oversight commission wrote a letter to the governor and members of the legislature that advocated for a "pause in planning" to construct a new facility to replace the Oahu community correctional center.  Reasons for a strategic pause in the jail planning included system wide gaps in rehabilitation practices, inadequate alignment with the Breaking Cycles Symposium report recommendations, and the need for a holistic approach to corrections and justice system reform.  The commission also advocated for a pause in planning to allow for immediate implementation of rehabilitative practices, data collection and analysis, and collaborative efforts to reduce pretrial detention.

     The departments of corrections and rehabilitation and accounting and general services plan to use a public-private partnership to plan, design, finance, construct, and maintain the new jail.  However, while public-private partnerships may be appropriate to deliver some types of public infrastructure, they are not appropriate for jails, which must be planned, designed, financed, constructed, and managed with an exceptionally high degree of transparency and public participation that simply cannot be achieved with a public-private partnership.

     Accordingly, the purpose of this Act is to:

     (1)  Establish a moratorium from July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2028, on the issuance of a request for proposal and construction of any new or expanded correctional facility through a public-private partnership to replace the existing Oahu community correctional center; and

     (2)  Establish and appropriate funds for a criminal justice diversion task force.

     SECTION 2.  Chapter 353, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to part I to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

     "§353-     In-state correctional facilities; moratorium.  (a)  Notwithstanding sections 353-16.35 and 353-16.36 and any other law to the contrary, no department, agency, board, commission, or employer of the State shall, from July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2028:

     (1)  Expend funds or take any action to create a public-private partnership to plan, finance, develop, or construct a new correctional facility in the State;

     (2)  Issue, publish, circulate, or solicit a request for qualifications from any private entity related to its ability to plan, finance, design, develop, or construct a new correctional facility in the State;

     (3)  Issue, publish, circulate, or solicit a request for proposal to plan, finance, design, develop, or construct a new correctional facility in the State; or

     (4)  Enter into a contract with any party to plan, finance, develop, design, or construct a new correctional facility in the State.

     (b)  For the purposes of this section, "new correctional facility" means any prison or community correctional center that has not housed an inmate prior to July 1, 2025."

     SECTION 3.  (a)  The Hawaii correctional system oversight commission shall create a criminal justice diversion task force to work collaboratively to:

     (1)  Recommend policies and procedures to the legislature to build statewide diversion infrastructure to divert individuals from jails, particularly for people accused of offenses arising from, or associated with, houselessness, poverty, mental illness, or substance use disorders;

     (2)  Identify the policies and practices driving the State's jail population and make recommendations to the legislature on data-driven strategies that will safely reduce the jail population;

     (3)  Recommend policies and programs to reduce the overrepresentation of native Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders, African Americans, and Filipinos in the criminal legal system;

     (4)  Recommend policies and procedures from the transformation and successful decarceration of the juvenile justice system in Hawaii that can be applied to the adult corrections system;

     (5)  Analyze the changes in policies, procedures, and other factors that contributed to the significant reduction in the jail population during the pandemic and at Maui community correctional center from 2014 to 2024; and

     (6)  Make other recommendations as the task force deems appropriate to improve Hawaii's criminal legal system.

     (b)  The preferred qualifications for members of the task force shall be possessing knowledge in:

     (1)  Evidence-based reforms within criminal justice and correctional systems to reduce the number of people in jails and prisons;

     (2)  Native Hawaiian cultural-based practices, with an emphasis on healing and reducing recidivism;

     (3)  Restorative justice practices; and

     (4)  Creating alternatives to incarceration through diversion, bail reform, the treatment of mental illness and substance use disorders, harm reduction practices, supportive housing programs, best practices in pretrial procedures, and programs to reduce poverty.

     (c)  The Hawaii correctional system oversight commission shall invite the following individuals, at minimum, to serve on the task force:

     (1)  A representative from the office of Hawaiian affairs;

     (2)  A representative from the Hawaii Health and Harm Reduction Center;

     (3)  A representative from Partners in Care;

     (4)  A representative from the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii;

     (5)  A representative from ʻEkolu Mea Nui;

     (6)  A representative from the Community Alliance on Prisons;

     (7)  A representative from Hawaii Friends for Restorative Justice;

     (8)  A representative from the Reimagining Public Safety in Hawaii Coalition;

     (9)  A representative from Project Vision Hawaii;

    (10)  A representative from Going Home Hawaii;

    (11)  A representative from the YMCA of Oahu; and

    (12)  Three justice-impacted persons with lived experience.

     (d)  The task force shall elect a chairperson and vice-chair from among its members.

     (e)  The criminal justice diversion task force shall submit a report of its findings and recommendations, including any proposed legislation, to the legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the regular session of 2027.  The report shall include a plan that addresses the policies and practices driving the jail population on Oahu, recommendations for significantly reducing the jail population, the true cost of a new jail to replace the Oahu community correctional center at the proposed site in Halawa, and the true cost of a renovation of the Oahu community correctional center at its existing location that incorporates an evidenced-based systems approach.

     (f)  Members of the task force shall serve without pay but shall receive reimbursement for expenses, including travel expenses, that are necessary for the performance of their duties.

     (g)  The terms of the task force members shall be for two years.

     (h)  The task force shall cease to exist on June 30, 2028.

     SECTION 4.  There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $           or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2025-2026 and the same sum or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2026-2027 for the operations of the criminal justice diversion task force pursuant to this Act.

     The sums appropriated shall be expended by the Hawaii correctional system oversight commission for the purposes of this Act.

     SECTION 5.  New statutory material is underscored.

     SECTION 6.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2025.

 

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________

 

 

Report Title:

Correctional Facilities; Moratorium; Hawaii Correctional System Oversight Commission; Criminal Justice Diversion Task Force; Appropriation

 

Description:

Establishes a moratorium on the issuance of a request for proposal and construction of any new or expanded correctional facility from 7/1/2025 to 6/30/2028, including the planned construction of a new facility to replace the existing Oahu community correctional center.  Establishes a criminal justice diversion task force.  Appropriates funds.

 

 

 

The summary description of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.