STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2874

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 3294

       S.D. 2

 

 

 

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. 3294, S.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO REENTRY PLANNING CIRCLES,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to provide transitional support for female offenders leaving prison.

 

     More specifically, the measure appropriates moneys to the Department of Public Safety to fund participation in reentry planning circles for at least fifty incarcerated women.

 

     Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the Hawaii Substance Abuse Coalition, Community Alliance on Prisons, Women's Prison Project, Hawaii Health and Harm Reduction Center, and one individual.

 

Your Committee received written comments on this measure from the Department of Public Safety and Department of Budget and Finance.

 

Your Committee finds that offenders who participate in reentry planning circles before leaving prison have significantly lower rates of re-offending, and that the funding provided by this measure will allow a greater number of female inmates, their families, and prison staff to discuss and develop written transition plans for obtaining housing, employment, and other necessities after the inmates' release from incarceration.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Changing the appropriation from $200,000 to an unspecified amount to facilitate further discussion on the measure; and

 

     (2)  Making a technical nonsubstantive amendment 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. 3294, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 3294, S.D. 2.

 

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

 

 

 

________________________________

DONOVAN M. DELA CRUZ, Chair