STAND.
COM. REP. NO. 1102-22
Honolulu, Hawaii
, 2022
RE: S.B. No. 2637
S.D. 1
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 S.B. No. 2637, S.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 all female offenders 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, Women's Prison Project, Hawaii Substance Abuse Coalition, Community Alliance on Prisons, YWCA O‘ahu, American Civil Liberties Union of Hawai‘i, and seven individuals. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Budget and Finance.
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;
(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 S.B. No. 2637, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2637, S.D. 1, 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,
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____________________________ TAKASHI OHNO, Chair |