SR82

WHEREAS, the Legislature has been working to facilitate the reentry of returning citizens back to their families and communities after exiting incarceration; and

WHEREAS, past legislatures have appropriated funds to the Department of Public Safety to start the process of reentry by ensuring that everyone who is released from incarceration has a valid identification card; and

WHEREAS, the Department of Public Safety is transitioning to a rehabilitative and therapeutic model; and

WHEREAS, ensuring that persons exiting incarceration are released with a valid identification card will facilitate their reentry; and

WHEREAS, the use of public funds allocated for ensuring that each person is released from incarceration with a valid identification card should be public information; and

WHEREAS, in 2016, the Legislature appropriated $25,000 to the Department of Public safety for the purpose of creating identification cards for inmates; and

WHEREAS, the Department of Public Safety encountered problems with the implementation of the 2016 program; and

WHEREAS, in 2022 the Legislature appropriated $100,000 to the Department of Public Safety to purchase machines for data input at each facility to implement the identification card program; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Thirty-second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2023, that the Department of Public Safety is requested to submit a report to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2024 detailing the Department's process in assisting inmates in obtaining identification cards; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the report is requested to include:

(1) The number of persons released since identification cards became available in 2022, or since the Department of Public Safety began assisting inmates in obtaining civil identification cards;

(2) The number of people released with an identification card that was obtained with the Department of Public Safety's assistance;

(3) The number of people who received a free identification card;

(4) The number of people who were charged for a valid identification card and the reasons for the charge;

(5) Any charges assessed for a valid identification card;

(6) The criteria necessary to obtain a valid identification card; and

(7) An accounting of the funding used to provide assistance in obtaining valid identification cards; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Public Safety is requested to:

(1) Post the report on the Department's publicly available website; and

(2) Provide a copy of the report to the Hawaii Correctional System Oversight Commission so that the Commission may post the report on its publicly available website; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Governor; Director of Public Safety; Chairperson of the Hawaii Correctional System Oversight Commission; Chair of the Senate Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs; and Chair of the House of Representatives Committee on Corrections, Military, and Veterans.

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title:

Department of Public Safety; Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation; Identification Cards; Inmates; Hawaii Correctional System Oversight Committee; Report

THE SENATE	S.R. NO.	82
THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2023
STATE OF HAWAII