STAND. COM. REP. NO. 124-22

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2022

RE: H.B. No. 1776

H.D. 1

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Corrections, Military, & Veterans, to which was referred H.B. No. 1776 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC SAFETY,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to:

(1) Mandate that there be a community-based work furlough program for all incarcerated women in the State; and

(2) Appropriate funds to the Department of Public Safety to extend the contract for community-based work furlough for women and ensure that it is not only continued but expanded to all incarcerated women.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Public Safety, Hawai‘i Correctional System Oversight Commission, Hawai‘i State Commission on the Status of Women, Common Cause Hawaii, Women's Prison Project, Hawai‘i Friends of Restorative Justice, YWCA O‘ahu, Hawaii Substance Abuse Coalition, Hawaii Health & Harm Reduction Center, and two individuals. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Budget and Finance and American Civil Liberties Union of Hawai‘i.

Your Committee finds that this measure will help the State transition to a rehabilitative and therapeutic model of corrections. The mandate for community-based work furlough programs for incarcerated women in Hawaii is consistent with the requirements in section 353H-3, Hawaii Revised Statutes, that the Department of Public Safety develop a "comprehensive network of transitional programs to address the needs of individuals exiting the correctional system" and ensure that "all reentry programs are gender-responsive". Such a network promotes community safety by facilitating the adjustment from the highly structured prison setting to independent living and works best when located in the communities to which the inmates will return.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Removing the mandate that a community-based work furlough program be made available to all female offenders, in recognition that this option may not be the best option for each incarcerated woman;

(2) Changing the effective date to July 1, 3000, to encourage further discussion; and

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

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Corrections, Military, & Veterans that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1776, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1776, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Corrections, Military, & Veterans,

____________________________

TAKASHI OHNO, Chair