Senate Standing Committee on Public Safety and Military Affairs

Good afternoon. We are convening today's Committee on Public Safety and Military affairs confirmation hearing. For those who are watching on zoom or remotely. In the event that we experience any kinds of technical difficulties and have to recess to a later date and time, we will do so to.

We will recess to tomorrow at 3:00pm in the same conference room. That'll be for March 122026 in this conference room, Conference Room 016. In the interest of time this afternoon, we do have a time limit of 2 minutes per testifier and certainly with some of the other hearings that are going on in the building.

I know everyone is sort of trying to accelerate to make sure that they get people in and out of these hearings as smoothly as possible. We do appreciate your presence here this afternoon.

We have, let me see 1, 2, 3, 4 Governor's message nominations today we have, starting first Governor's message 622 submitting for consideration and confirmation to the Correctional Industries Advisory Committee nominee Shane Dy for a term to expire June 302028. And Members, I believe Mr. Doughty is joining us on remote. Good afternoon. Mr. Doughty.

I'm not sure we have. Well, we do have. On behalf of. Let's see, where did my list go? We do have. On behalf of the Department. Department Director Johnson,

Good morning. Chair Fukunaga, other Members of the Committee, wherever you are, I would just summarize our testimony and support if that's okay with you. I know we have a two minute limit. So Mr. Doughty used to, Mr. Doughty used to work for us in our, in our agriculture operations and as an operations manager eti.

He's got a wealth of experience and knowledge in the system and it make him an ideal candidate for this position. And so I would appreciate the committee's advice and consent for this highly qualified nominee. Thank you.

Okay, thank you very much. I'm sorry Members, I testified. Yes, thank you. Next we have, let's see. Oh, Mr. Doughty, welcome.

Thank you.

You know, if you could kind of walk through some of the questions that you responded to, I think that would be helpful for Members who may not be present today. They'll be able to watch the televised version.

So I know you had sent us your written responses to the questions, so if you could kind of elaborate on those, we would very much appreciate that.

Sure, you bet. I don't have them in front of me right now, but I'll give you a little bit of my background. I spent 21 years with the University of Arizona and the College of Agriculture And I was a program coordinator for them within ag Research as support for all of our agricultural facilities.

When I Left there in 2014, I went as a private consultant and ultimately ended up doing a project with Arizona Correctional Industries, specializing in warm water fin fish production, aquaculture, as most people referred to it, and then went to work for Hawaii Correctional Industries for. For a period of about 19 months, I believe. And then.

Yeah, and then I've been operating my own business since then. Where I fall into play, I guess, my, My.

My most valued asset, I think, bringing into this is a wealth of background as far as correctional industries goes across two states as far as their programs, protocols, security issues, and then also as being on the private sector with the university. We worked greatly within the private sector and the public sector.

So I understand how those fit together and where they can benefit each other. With that being the case, I have a great love and a passion for rehabilitation and for agriculture, obviously.

And when I came to hci, to Hawaii Correctional Industries, my goal was, and I took it all the way to Governor Ige at the time, to his office, about helping, you know, people experiencing incarceration become excited about the agricultural field and the opportunities that lie there in order to help support food security for the state of Hawaii.

Okay, well, thank you. One of the things that the Legislature has really embarked upon over the last several years is a real strong emphasis on workforce development and training. And in agriculture in particular, Hawaii farmers are. Are really dwindling. Many of them are approaching retirement.

And so did you have specific opportunities to test or pilot any specific projects with either Department of Agriculture or ctahr? Because I would imagine that this area is such a great area of need. I don't think there's any shortage of need.

It's a matter of how do we find people who both have a passion as well as the ability to do well in farming and agriculture?

Yeah, absolutely. When I was there in Hawaii, we were just getting started, and we were just improving our farm operation, getting it up, getting it in front of the public eye. We were just starting to market through some public vendors. And, you know, in this.

This problem with, you know, the dwindling population of farmers is not just being felt in Hawaii. It's being felt all the way across the country. And unfortunately, we as a country have done a really poor job of getting the youth excited about agriculture and agribusiness as a whole.

It's one of the most exciting and technologically driven industries right now. And so a lot of that needs to be, I believe, needs to be put in the forefront. And that was some projects that we were working on as far as alternative methods of crop production. We were just getting into a lot of the aquaculture.

We were just starting to scratch the surface of aquaculture, but a lot of hydroponic work, a lot of raised bed, just alternative ways of producing agriculture. And we were, we were getting a lot of interest from the clients that we served within the, within the correctional realm. And so we're.

Yeah, I was very excited about where, where we were going and then we had a big shift in, in funding and financing and things. And so unfortunately a lot of that went by the wayside and, and then a few key people within our industry retired out just like what's happening everywhere.

And our programs kind of faded into, into non existence, which you know, I hope is being.

If I am allowed to serve on this board, I would, I'm, I'm very much excited to get those back up and running and see how much excitement we can generate from this field because it is, it's super exciting what's happening across the, across the world in, in agriculture right now.

Well, thank you very much. We appreciate your commitment and your energy.

zero, thank you.

Is there any, is there anyone else here to comment or testify on Governor's message number 622? Okay. If not, let's turn to Governor's message 623. This nomination is for Raymond Mullins Correctional Industries Advisory Committee for a term to June 302028. And I believe we have Mr. Mullins here this afternoon.

I'd also like to ask Director Johnson if he would be so kind as to deliver his department's recommendations. Sure.

Thank you. I'll summarize my testimony as well. Mr. Mullins has a wealth of knowledge and accounting knowledge and financial expertise. ACI's extensive.

His extensive experience and thoughtful management style with several organizations and his own business makes him a resourceful candidate for the advisory board and makes him a valuable asset to the advisory board with respect to the, the. The ATI is special funded, so they look out for revenue.

They look for revenue, venture capital projects to earn money and at the same time provide a living wage and marketable skills to the inmates. So his experience would be invaluable to help on that side of the board. And so we really support this highly qualified candidate and once again ask for the Committee to advise and consent.

Thank you very much. We also have had testimonies submitted by Julian Lee, Chris Cadell, Christopher Lumley, all in support. And I'd like to invite Mr. Mullins to come to the table and join us.

Hello. Good afternoon, Chair and other Members of the Committee. My name is Raymond Mullins for the record. And I'm honored. I'm sorry. I'm honored to be. Sorry. My name is Raymond Mullins for the record, and I am honored to be a nominee for the Hawaii Correctional Industries Advisory Committee.

You know, you provided some very useful background information. I wonder if you would be willing to comment on, you know, some of your comments, particularly with respect to the questions what do you hope to accomplish? And name three qualities that make you stand out in this arena. I thought those responses were very helpful.

Okay, thank you very much. So what I hope to accomplish with this role is to increase the morale of the staff and the inmates by implementing or analyzing implementation of streamlining efforts and motivating, encouraging more inmates to participate.

Because right now we do have a shortage in inmates participation and even the capacity right now because there's a certain pipeline they have to go through. So we want to help with that.

But also there's an upcoming ERP implementation and I've already been involved with two ERP implementations, one in which I was heavily involved with as a staff accountant, and then the other one I led myself for a restaurant group locally here in Hawaii. They own quite a few restaurants here.

Sorry, I'm still an example I had for a suggestion for HCI is when inmates are coming in. I know they do get kind of a introduction and onboarding, if you will, to the, to the system expectations that are focused primarily on prison rules and those types of things.

But we, we want, or at least what I want to do is also add in a section where HCI is at least mentioned in, in enough detail to let them know that, all right, this is some opportunities you have.

Like here we just went over all the stuff you have to, you have know, do keep your head down and do right.

But these are some opportunities you have and reasons to keep your head up because we, we don't want them losing hope because if they lose hope, then when they get out, their, you know, the recidivism is, is going to just be there for a long time. It's going to be a horrible cycle.

So my, my hope is that similar to how I, I've learned, recommend people doing interviews, let them know what's available, what's expected of them and what type of jobs we offer, workforce development that we actually offer while they're still incarcerated.

That way, even though they don't qualify right now, they know what Steps they need to take to get through the pipeline to be able to be permitted to work in these private organizations or even state, you know, if the opportunity is right for them.

And then for the three qualities or if you had any more questions on that, I'm happy to answer that. Perfect. So for the, the three qualities, you know, I have the listed here non, non judgmental perspective because I believe people should not be permanently defined by a decision they made earlier in life.

People make or decisions all the time. So some of them, they get incarcerated unfortunately. And it's not always something that is a long term who they are, it's just who they were in that moment. So and, and I can understand that, you know, worked with several inmates that were in the workflow program and things like that.

I also mentioned it's kind of broad unfortunately, but I mentioned that everyone, everyone deserves to be loved. And in this case what I mean is everyone deserves some compassion and they deserve to be treated fairly and like a respected human being.

Not just as a felon or as someone that has been in the system and now that's who they're branded as. You know, and also mention oftentimes the people that are hardest to love are the ones that need it the most. And I fully stand by that. It's worked for me so far.

Third was the, that I listed was my abundance mindset. What I mean by that is I believe they, they've kind of backed themselves into a corner. Some, in some cases, not all of them, but some of them have backed themselves into a corner where entrepreneurship is their best opportunity. But that's an amazing opportunity.

And I, I know it's not something that's really discussed too much in the correction industry, but I, I fully believe that if they understand how much opportunity there is there, that not only will it give them hope, but they're, they'll be able to actually fulfill these opportunities.

They'll actually be able to provide jobs even for other people in society. They'll be able to give back way more than in some cases than what they took, but they would still be able to give back way more than just simply coming out and working in a, you know, a box factory or something.

So no, that, that I think is really very expansive and transformative. So certainly appreciate your commitment and your will, willingness to serve because having, you know, hope is really the biggest motivator of all and it's very hard to gain back once, you know, people lose hope in, in what's possible. So thank you.

We appreciate your willingness to serve I'm honored. Thank you. Okay. Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Okay, let us turn to Governor's message number 624, Dr. Cheryl Inouye, who is nominated for the Hawaii Paroling Authority for a term to expire on June 302029. And I believe we have Dr. Inouye here, but we'd like to call upon Gene Demello for the Hawaii Parole Authority to comment first. And then we will invite Dr. Inouye up to answer questions.

Chair, is it okay if I stand on my written.

Certainly. Okay, thank you so much. I believe we also received Director Johnson's testimony. I apologize. We have you listed after that. Please come follow me. Okay, thank you. Also, we have Corey Roy for Hawaii Paroling Authority. Okay, thank you. And we also received written testimonies and support from Ellen Johnson and Edmund Fred Hume.

Now, we'd like to invite Dr. Inouye to join us. And if we could ask you to summarize, you know, a little bit of your background. I. I think that sort of does speak volumes as far as your prior experience and history, and how you kind of came to serve in this initial term would be very, very valuable.

Thank you for having me. One thing I do want to clarify is that I'm not a doctor. So I don't know where that. Where that. Where that came about. But I just have a master's in social work degree. So how this came about, my trajectory and my career has been pretty simple. If you've seen my resume.

I've only worked at a few jobs. I actually got into social work because I wanted to help people. That's been my passion my entire career. And so I started off in gerontology. That was really my specialty, working with old people. At the time when I graduated, I didn't have any jobs out there.

It was a time when jobs were scarce. I took an emergency hire position at the district court, and then I just loved it. And after that, I went to the felony side in circuit court, and I stayed there for 35 years, and then I retired from there after that.

I was lucky enough to have served on the Paroling Authority for about a year and a half. And then Steve Alm asked if I would come on board and help with his Administration and turn things around. And so I did that for one term, which is what I had committed to.

And then I retired a second time, hoping that an opportunity like this would come about again. And I'm very, very lucky to have an opportunity today and be here before you and so this is what brings me here today. I have a passion for helping people and I love being in a criminal justice system.

Never looked back once. So I know that there is a great need in working with the elderly. But this is more. I enjoy being.

If you can identify some particular goals or directions you'd like to keep moving in in terms of the paroling authority, because we have such a large number of inmates and we have a large number of people who are located, you know, out of Hawaii, it would seem that the paroling authority could be a very key player in, you know, really reducing some of the population so that we can return people to, you know, lives outside incarceration.

How do you see, you know, some of the directions that you'd like to pursue as part of the parole authority?

Well, the. There are problems that are system wide, not just affecting only parole. So I served in the probation Department for 35 years. As I said, one of the critical things missing is really treatment opportunities for these offenders. And so these include substance abuse treatment as well as mental health treatment.

It's very, very difficult to place people with these services. They're long waiting lists. A lot of times purchase of service monies are cut short, and so we don't have a lot of capacity. Treatment programs cannot rely on a steady stream of income. And so they're, you know, they're hesitant in expanding their services too.

So I would love to see, you know, some commitment for dedicated monies, a steady stream where they can expand on mental health. You must have heard how many of the offenders incarcerated do have substance abuse and mental health issues, oftentimes combined. And so I know treatment slots are very hard to combine.

One of my great passions, and I was just talking to the Director earlier, is that I really wanted to see an integrated statewide system for data collection. Because I don't know if you're aware of this, but every criminal justice system has its own MIF system. Every. It's unbelievable.

I mean, so from the beginning of the criminal justice system, the police will do their entry. Ghosts and prosecutors, they do their. Their own entries. And if the person gets probation, then it goes to the courts. They do their own data entry.

The person gets in prison, they do their own entry, go to parole, they do their own separate entry. And there is a lot of replication of data. So we have tried to initiate a Bill to allow data integration, and that hadn't worked, but that would be my dream, is to have an integrated system.

Well, that sounds like a great idea. We would certainly support it. I Know, in terms of homeless individuals, one of the big things that has occurred over the last eight to 10 years is having an integrated data system so that all the agencies and the various nonprofit providers, et cetera, have access to one system.

And it really helps a lot in terms of identifying opportunities for both placement as well as services.

And when you don't have an integrated system, then everyone is acting in silos. But it's very difficult to do research, so you really don't know what's happening. Like once somebody leaves probation, we don't know how somebody doesn't grow, we don't know what worked, what didn't work. It's very difficult to do aggregate data analysis.

So I mean, that would have been my dream when I was working full time.

Okay, well, thank you very much. I think that's a very laudable objective and we appreciate your commitment and we'll take it up and willingness to serve. Thank you so very much. Okay, let us turn now to any questions? Yes, thank you. Thank you. Let us turn now to. Let's see, Governor's message number 625.

The governor's appointment or nomination of Robert Harder to Hawaii Advisory Council on Emergency Management for a term to expire June 302029 believe we have for the city and county of Honolulu Department of emergency management. Mr. Collins. Is Mr. Collins present? Okay.

If not, we also received supportive testimony from Elizabeth Galvez, Michael Kern, Crystal Van Beelen and I believe we have Mr. Harder here in person. If you would please come forward. Good afternoon.

Good afternoon Sheriff and Committee, wherever you are. A day, day like today is definitely what Emergency management is all about. Certainly Dr. Collins was not able to be here today because he is very busy in the Emergency operations center for the City and county of Honolulu.

And as you may have seen last night during the press conference with the city personnel in preparation for this incoming inclement weather. That was where my passion was when I was a full time employee of the Department of Emergency Management. Having just retired in the month of

July this year, I think we are probably going to see a greater need for coordination and really preparation among state and county agency. So you are very well prepared.

Well, I'm going to say it is as emergency management. It is a team sport. There is nobody that stands out anymore, though it is oftentimes the Department of Emergency Management or Civil Defense, depending on which which county you're from, that brings together all the players.

All the players are more than just those city employees that that is their day to day activity. Bringing together the Coordination, the, the, the support and development of plans and then the actual execution of those plans by state entities. Right.

Oftentimes people forget that it is not the county that gets to control schools to become shelters, it is the state. Right.

So we work very closely with the Department, with the Hyma, the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency of course, and, and this council that I see is that advisory point that, that element of both the public as well as those with experience bringing that to the Director as well as the lead administrator, the Governor and, and yourself on, on in the Legislature.

But working with all those partners, we have those, you know, there's the private sector that's involved. You know, we don't run our own water system, we don't run our own electrical system. We have to work very closely with those partners during a disaster like this.

In our preparation, our non governmental organizations, the American Red Cross, the Salvation army, the Humane Society, we all have to work together and we do. And fortunately we do it ahead of time. Right.

It's often been said in the emergency management field it is the wrong time to be exchanging business cards in the emergency operations center the day of the operation. That is something that should have been done during training and planning and operations like that.

So with my background in 14 years as an emergency manager with the city and county of Honolulu, my over 35 years as a volunteer in the American Red Cross multiple chapters and then my additionally over 30 years as a military officer are working in, in the field of civil affairs, civil military operations which involved humanitarian assistance operations, disaster response and then defense support to civil authorities.

But yeah, bringing all those together, that is the background that I can bring along with being a team Member, a team player with those folks. So that's, that's why I'm looking forward to, to an opportunity to serve on this council.

We definitely appreciate your energy and you know, I don't have any further questions. But having served on the council end as well as in the state legislative arena, I think there needs to be a much greater emphasis on preparation. You know, as we face greater and greater emergencies than we ever have before.

So, and part of that is a greater education to the public that they, they have a vote right in this, in their preparations. If they are going to, if they think that they are going to be waiting upon a first responder to come in, it's not going to happen. We, we already know that.

Truly the first responder in any emergency from a, a typical house fire to flooding is your neighbor. Yep, right. They are the first ones there. They may not have the title. They may not get paid as a first responder, but they are the help until help arrives.

Right.

And so if we can, you know, help Hyma and, and the state to get that message out, and they do everything from preparedness fairs on the windward side to, you know, other events, you know, they, they try to get it out there.

You know, maybe there's areas that we can work on trying to get it, you know, not, not the Department of Education needs one more requirement in their criteria.

But, you know, working with the children, many, many times I've known with the Red Cross that if we get the children to think about fire safety and how to get out of their house during a fire or when to test the smoke alarm in the house, mom and dad have a tendency to go, you know, I guess we ought to do this.

So, yeah, it's, it's, it's simple things down at that level as well as certainly the, the preparations of, of major, major events like hurricanes and tsunamis and flooding.

On that note, thank you so much for your comments this afternoon. I think for, you know, everyone who has been following this year's legislative session, it's been very instructive to discover just how powerful some of these disasters are turning out to be. So we do have to do a lot better and a lot more.

And the challenge is oftentimes people go, well, you know, that's somebody else's disaster. When it's your house, it's your disaster.

Right. Thank you very much. Okay, Member, Sorry, no Members. We will be adjourning this afternoon's hearing to make sure that everyone is able to traverse safely out of the building. But we will defer decision making on the nominations to tomorrow afternoon's hearing at 3 o' clock in this conference room.

So thank you all for your presence and please be safe as you depart. Okay. We'll file a hearing notice as to the rescheduled time. Thank you.