STAND. COM. REP. NO. 651-22

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2022

RE: H.B. No. 1776

H.D. 2

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 1776, H.D. 1, 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 incarcerated women in the State; and

(2) Appropriate funds to the Department of Public Safety to ensure the continuation and expansion of community-based work furlough for women.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Human Services, Department of Public Safety, Office of the Public Defender, Hawaii Substance Abuse Coalition, Women's Prison Project, Hawai‘i Women Lawyers, Hawai‘i Health & Harm Reduction Center, and YWCA O‘ahu. 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 since 2015, the Department of Public Safety has contracted with a local nonprofit organization to place women from the Women's Community Correctional Center on Oahu in a residential program that provides wraparound services to assist them as they reenter society and rebuild their lives. The residential program's job readiness and job retention programs enable women to return to the workforce, keeping eighty-four percent of participants out of prison and providing them with the opportunity to participate in and access transitional training. This measure ensures the continuation and expansion of the community-based work furlough program for incarcerated women in the State.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Requiring the expansion of community-based work furlough and reentry programs for female offenders, regardless of whether the program is funded by the Department of Public Safety or another state agency;

(2) Requiring the Department of Public Safety and any other state agency that contracts with community-based work furlough and reentry programs for female offenders to submit an annual report to the Legislature that includes the amount of funding expended for community-based work furlough and reentry programs, the number of women served by the programs, a description of the services provided by the programs, and program participation outcomes; 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 Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1776, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it be referred to your Committee on Finance in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1776, H.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs,

____________________________

MARK M. NAKASHIMA, Chair