STAND.
COM. REP. NO. 293
Honolulu, Hawaii
, 2023
RE: H.B. No. 1129
H.D. 1
Honorable Scott K. Saiki
Speaker, House of Representatives
Thirty-Second State Legislature
Regular Session of 2023
State of Hawaii
Sir:
Your Committee on Corrections, Military & Veterans, to which was referred H.B. No. 1129 entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO INCARCERATED WOMEN,"
begs leave to report as follows:
Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Public Safety, University of Hawai‘i System, Hawai‘i Health & Harm Reduction Center, Community Alliance on Prisons, Women's Prison Project, League of Women Voters of Hawaii, Hawai‘i Friends of Restorative Justice, and eight individuals. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of the Attorney General and McKinley Community School for Adults.
Your Committee finds that an education and
reentry program for incarcerated women was established in 2021 to train
incarcerated women to be general education development tutors for their peers,
provide college correspondence courses for women in the Women's Community Correctional
Center, and provide reentry and transition services for women who wish to
continue their education post‑incarceration. In 2022,
funds were appropriated for the program, but because the funds were not
distributed to the proper entity, the program has continued to be administered
through private donations. This measure
ensures that the program receives continued support, building upon its early
success in educating incarcerated women.
Your Committee has amended this measure by:
(1) Changing the appropriation to an unspecified amount;
(2) Specifying that the appropriation is for a grant pursuant to chapter 42F, Hawaii Revised Statutes, to the Hawaii Friends of Restorative Justice for fiscal year 2023-2024 for the education and reentry program for incarcerated women;
(3) Deleting language that would have authorized the University of Hawaii Windward Community College to award grants to a private entity for the education and reentry program for incarcerated women;
(4) Changing the effective date to June 30, 3000, to encourage further discussion; and
(5) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.
Your Committee respectfully requests your Committee on Finance, should it deliberate on this measure, to consider an appropriation amount of $250,000.
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 H.B. No. 1129, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1129, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Finance.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the
Committee on Corrections, Military & Veterans,
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____________________________ MARK J. HASHEM, Chair |
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