STAND. COM. REP. NO. 643

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 710

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2023

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Public Safety and Intergovernmental and Military Affairs and Higher Education, to which was referred S.B. No. 710 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO INCARCERATED WOMEN,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Appropriate funds to the University of Hawaii Windward Community College for the education and reentry program for incarcerated women developed and administered by Hawaii Friends of Restorative Justice; and

(2) Authorize the University of Hawaii Windward Community College to award grants to a private entity.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Public Safety, University of Hawai‘i System, Windward Community College, McKinley Community School for Adults, Hawai‘i Friends of Restorative Justice, Women's Prison Project, Community Alliance on Prisons, University of Hawaii Professional Assembly, Adult Friends for Youth, and twenty-one individuals. Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of the Attorney General.

Your Committees find that in August 2021, the Hawaii Friends of Restorative Justice was awarded $250,000 from the Governor's Emergency Education Relief Fund to fund the first year of an education and reentry program for incarcerated women developed and administered by Hawaii Friends of Restorative Justice, in partnership with the Women's Community Correctional Center, Windward Community College, University of Hawaii at Manoa, and McKinley Community School for Adults. Your Committees further find that in 2022, the Legislature attempted to fund the second year of the pilot program by making a $200,000 appropriation to McKinley Community School for Adults. However, McKinley Community School for Adults did not develop and does not directly administer the program, resulting in the appropriated moneys not being distributed. Hawaii Fiends of Restorative Justice has continued to administer the program through a private donation while awaiting access to the appropriated funding. Your Committees believe that the program has been successful at assisting incarcerated women in achieving their educational goals and should continue to be funded. This measure will help incarcerated women obtain general educational development certifications by funding the education and reentry program for incarcerated women developed and administered by the Hawaii Friends of Restorative Justice.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Inserting language requiring the McKinley Community School for Adults to work with Hawaii Friends of Restorative Justice to provide counseling services for incarcerated women participating in the education and reentry program for incarcerated women;

(2) Deleting language that would have appropriated funds for the education and reentry program for incarcerated women, developed and administered by Hawaii Friends of Restorative justice for fiscal year 2024-2025;

(3) Clarifying that the appropriation to the Hawaii Friends of Restorative Justice is a grant pursuant to chapter 42F, Hawaii Revised Statutes;

(4) Inserting language establishing standards for the administrative grant to the Hawaii Friends of Restorative Justice;

(5) Amending section 1 to reflect its amended purpose; and

(6) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Public Safety and Intergovernmental and Military Affairs and Higher Education that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 710, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 710, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Public Safety and Intergovernmental and Military Affairs and Higher Education,

________________________________ DONNA MERCADO KIM, Chair

________________________________ GLENN WAKAI, Chair