STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1326-22

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2022

RE: S.B. No. 2641

S.D. 2

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 Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 2641, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE JUDICIARY,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to appropriate funds for residential programs that allow minor children to remain with their mothers while participating in the program, including community-based furlough programs, residential drug treatment programs, therapeutic community programs, and mental health programs, to reduce the risk of trauma and multigenerational incarceration.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Judiciary, Department of Human Services, Hawaii Substance Abuse Coalition, Community Alliance on Prisons, Women's Prison Project, American Civil Liberties Union of Hawai‘i, and three individuals. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Budget and Finance and Department of Public Safety.

Your Committee finds that as of 2018, seventy-five percent of incarcerated women in the State had children. Studies have shown that when women in the criminal justice system are separated from their children, the experience has devastating impacts on the children's mental health and development and can increase the risk of multigenerational incarceration. Furthermore, the separation has a traumatic effect on mothers. Your Committee believes that funding residential programs that allow minor children to remain with their mothers while participating in the program will help to reduce the risk of trauma and multigenerational incarceration.

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 S.B. No. 2641, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, and recommends that it be referred to your Committee on Finance.

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

____________________________

MARK M. NAKASHIMA, Chair