STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1856

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 1131

H.D. 1

S.D. 2

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2023

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred H.B. No. 1131, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO GENDER PARITY IN PROGRAMS FOR INCARCERATED WOMEN,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate moneys to the Hawaii Friends of Restorative Justice as a Chapter 42F, Hawaii Revised Statutes, grant to study all programming offered to persons incarcerated at correctional facilities in the State and to convene a group of incarcerated women for the purpose of identifying gaps in the programming offered to female inmates.

Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from Rainbow Family 808, the Stonewall Caucus of the Democratic Party of Hawaii, ACLU of Hawaii, and three individuals.

Your Committee received written comments on this measure from the Department of Public Safety, Hawaii Correctional System Oversight Commission, and Women's Prison Project.

Your Committee finds that the study funded by this measure will help the State evaluate the programming currently offered in Hawaii's correctional facilities; identify unmet programming needs; and plan for improvements that will comply with the law's requirement of gender parity, reduce recidivism, and help prepare incarcerated women for successful reentry.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Making the following amendments, as recommended in written comments from the Hawaii Correctional System Oversight Commission:

(A) Assigning responsibility for the study required by the measure, and appropriating moneys for the study, to the Hawaii Correctional System Oversight Commission, rather than Hawaii Friends of Restorative Justice;

(B) Changing the appropriation from a grant made pursuant to Chapter 42F, Hawaii Revised Statutes, to a standard appropriation;

(C) Making the Department of the Attorney General the expending agency for the appropriation, rather than the Judiciary; and

(D) Changing the study's completion date to June 30, 2024; and

(2) Making technical nonsubstantive amendments 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 H.B. No. 1131, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1131, H.D. 1, S.D. 2.

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

________________________________

DONOVAN M. DELA CRUZ, Chair