RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, it has been estimated that eighty per cent or more of those admitted to the State's correctional facilities have a substance abuse or dependence problem; and

WHEREAS, in the summer of 2003, the Joint House-Senate Task Force on Ice and Drug Abatement concluded that the solution to the ice epidemic is to provide treatment for the present generation of ice abusers and prevent future generations from becoming substance abusers; and

WHEREAS, persons emerging from correctional facilities are at high risk of committing new criminal offenses and resuming a life of substance abuse and dependence; and

WHEREAS, legislation to provide intensive supervision and treatment for those released from prison has been enacted in recent years; and

WHEREAS, the success of treatment is at least partly dependent on the released person's ability to obtain and maintain meaningful employment; and

WHEREAS, notwithstanding the fact that state law prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of a prospective employee's arrest or court record, persons released from incarceration still find it exceedingly difficult to obtain meaningful employment; and

WHEREAS, incentives to encourage the hiring and training of persons released from incarceration are needed to encourage employers to provide these individuals with an opportunity to reestablish their lives and to avoid the circumstances that led to their incarceration; and

WHEREAS, a tax credit for the employment and training of recently released persons can be fiscally positive for the State because, by investing in these individuals, the tax credit will allow residents and businesses to invest dollars in workforce development that would otherwise have gone to the expenditures for public assistance, or worse, the criminal justice system for investigation, prosecution, and reincarceration of these individuals and losses to their victims; and

WHEREAS, each dollar that is not spent on supporting persons recently released from prison, and is instead spent on employment and training of these individuals, would multiply as it would permit these individuals to spend their earnings in the economy and thereby create a "multiplier effect" resulting in increased tax revenues for the State; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-third Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2005, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Department of Taxation is requested to conduct a study on the feasibility of establishing a tax credit based upon the employment of formerly incarcerated individuals, including the economic benefits and disadvantages of such a tax credit; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that in conducting the study, the Department of Taxation is requested to consult with the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism, Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, Tax Foundation of Hawaii, and other interested or relevant government and private sector agencies or organizations; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Taxation is requested to submit its findings and recommendations, including proposed legislation, to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2006; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Director of Taxation; the Director of Business, Economic Development, and

Tourism; the Director of Labor and Industrial Relations; and the President of the Tax Foundation of Hawaii.

Report Title:

Tax Credit; Former Incarcerated Individuals; Study