STAND. COM. REP. NO. 359

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2023

RE: H.B. No. 1130

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. 1130 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CORRECTIONS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to appropriate funds to the University of Hawaii Windward Community College to support a level I trauma-informed certification program for adult corrections officers.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Judiciary, Department of Public Safety, Department of Health, University of Hawai‘i System, Hawaii Correctional System Oversight Commission, Opportunity Youth Action Hawai‘i, League of Women Voters of Hawaii, Hawai‘i Friends of Restorative Justice, and six individuals. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the United Public Workers, AFSCME Local 646, ALF-CIO.

Your Committee finds that when corrections professionals are trained to properly assess and interact with persons who have experienced trauma, those professionals are better able to engage with those individuals. This engagement often connects these individuals with vital services and improves rehabilitation and reduces recidivism rates. Therefore, this measure ensures that the State's corrections professionals are properly trained in trauma-informed care to identify and recognize the signs and symptoms of trauma.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Changing the appropriation to an unspecified amount;

(2) Specifying that the appropriation be expended by the Department of Public Safety to administer level I trauma-informed certification programs for adult corrections officers statewide;

(3) Changing the effective date to June 30, 3000, to encourage further discussion; and

(4) 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 $100,000.

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. 1130, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1130, 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,

____________________________

MARK J. HASHEM, Chair