STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2157

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2770

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Hawaiian Affairs and Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 2770 entitled:

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

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate funds to the Department of Public Safety to collaborate with the Office of Hawaiian Affairs for the creation of a Native Hawaiian rehabilitation program for prison inmates, which puts an emphasis on Native Hawaiian values and cultural practices.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Human Services, Department of Public Safety, Opportunity Youth Action Hui, Hawai‘i Friends of Restorative Justice, Women's Prison Project, Community Alliance on Prisons, Keaukaha Community Association, Hawai‘i Correctional System Oversight Commission, and two individuals. Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Center for Hawaiian Sovereignty Studies. Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Budget and Finance and Office of Hawaiian Affairs.

Your Committees find that prison sentences alone do not adequately rehabilitate criminal offenders. However, positive rehabilitation program experiences have been shown to increase the success rate of the rehabilitation. Connecting with culture and ancestral roots may be an effective method of rehabilitation for Native Hawaiian prison inmates. Therefore, the purpose of this measure is to appropriate funds to establish a Native Hawaiian criminal rehabilitation program which puts an emphasis on Native Hawaiian values and cultural practices.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Hawaiian Affairs and Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2770 and recommend that it pass Second Reading and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Hawaiian Affairs and Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs,

________________________________ CLARENCE K. NISHIHARA, Chair

________________________________ MAILE S.L. SHIMABUKURO, Chair