STAND. COM. REP. NO. 324

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2023

RE: H.B. No. 67

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 Higher Education & Technology, to which was referred H.B. No. 67 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT MAKING AN APPROPRIATION FOR THE PU‘UHONUA PROGRAM,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to appropriate funds for three full-time equivalent positions for Windward Community College's Pu‘uhonua program.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the University of Hawai‘i System, Department of Public Safety, Women's Prison Project, and seven individuals.

Your Committee finds that the Pu‘uhonua, or "places of sanctuary" program, offers college courses for credit to incarcerated individuals. To date, all students in the program have been the first in their families to attend college, forty-three percent are Native Hawaiian, and nine percent are Pacific Islander. Students in the Pu‘uhonua program have proven to be much less likely to be reincarcerated after release than non-participants. By providing grant funding for the program, this measure therefore provides a vehicle of opportunity for incarcerated community members and at-promise youth.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Changing the appropriations to unspecified amounts;

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

(3) 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 a total appropriation amount of $211,000, allocated as follows: $68,000 for the Women's Community Correctional Center counselor position; $68,000 for the Hālawa Correctional Facility counselor position; and $75,000 for the incarcerated education coordinator position.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Higher Education & Technology that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 67, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 67, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Finance.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Higher Education & Technology,

____________________________

AMY A. PERRUSO, Chair