STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2708

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2770

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 2770 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO NATIVE HAWAIIAN REHABILITATION PROGRAMS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to require the Department of Public Safety to create, in collaboration with the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, a Native Hawaiian rehabilitation program for prison inmates that emphasizes Native Hawaiian values and cultural practices.

Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the Department of Public Safety, Women's Prison Project, Community Alliance on Prisons, Opportunity Youth Action Hui, and four individuals.

Your Committee received written comments in opposition to this measure from the Center for Hawaiian Sovereignty Studies.

Your Committee received written comments on this measure from the Department of Budget and Finance and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.

Your Committee finds that rehabilitation programs improve the likelihood of inmate rehabilitation. Further, your Committee believes that connecting Native Hawaiian prison inmates with their cultural and ancestral roots may be an effective method of rehabilitation. However, it is the intent of this Committee that these Native Hawaiian programs should be available to all inmates, regardless of ethnic background.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Codifying in the Hawaii Revised Statutes the mandate for the creation of a Native Hawaiian rehabilitation program;

(2) Changing the effective date to July 1, 2050, to facilitate further discussion on the measure; and

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

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2770, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2770, S.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

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DONOVAN M. DELA CRUZ, Chair