STAND. COM. REP. NO. 368

                                 Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                   , 1999

                                 RE: H.B. No. 789
                                     H.D. 1




Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say
Speaker, House of Representatives
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 1999
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Public Safety and Military Affairs, to
which was referred H.B. No. 789 entitled: 

     "A BILL FOR AN ACT MAKING AN APPROPRIATION FOR THE KASHBOX
     PROGRAM,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to appropriate funds for the
KASHBOX program at Waiawa Correctional Facility to supplement the
program's budget shortfall.

     The Department of Public Safety, the Department of the
Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu, the
Government Efficiency Teams, Inc., the Hawaii Parole Authority,
and the Hawaii Parole Board testified in support of this measure.
The Community Alliance on Prisons and T.J. Mahoney & Associates
testified in support of the measure with amended language.  A
member of the public commented on this measure.

     Upon further consideration, your Committee has amended this
measure by:

     (1)  Appropriating $1 for the KASHBOX appropriation for
          discussion purposes;

     (2)  Including a provision to provide funds for the women's
          drug treatment program, Ho`omana, at the Women's
          Community Correctional Center (WCCC); and


 
 
                                 STAND. COM. REP. NO. 368
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     (3)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for
          purposes of style, clarity, and consistency.

     Your Committee finds that drug and alcohol treatment
programs within the prison system is essential to address
recidivism and the attendant criminal justice costs.  According
to a Drug Abuse Report Program Study done by the National
Institute of Drug Abuse, untreated addicts and alcoholics cost
taxpayers around $130,000,000 annually.  Your Committee finds
that moneys spent now will save the State and taxpayers in the
long run.  Additionally, KASHBOX is an extremely successful
program--out of 493 inmates treated by the KASHBOX program, 297
inmates have graduated, with an average retake rate of 38
percent.

     Operating at the Waiawa Correctional Facility, KASHBOX is an
exclusively male program.  Your Committee also finds that the
Ho`omana drug treatment program, KASHBOX's female counterpart, is
equally deserving of financial support from the Legislature.
Incarcerated women face similar drug and alcohol-related risks
that can be mitigated by the Ho`omana program.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your
Committee on Public Safety and Military Affairs that is attached
to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and
purpose of H.B. No. 789, as amended herein, and recommends that
it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No.
789, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Finance.

                                   Respectfully submitted on
                                   behalf of the members of the
                                   Committee on Public Safety and
                                   Military Affairs,



                                   ______________________________
                                   NESTOR R. GARCIA, Chair