Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2005

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 488 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to appropriate funds to expand work release opportunities for qualifying women inmates.

Testimony in support of the measure was submitted by the Department of Public Safety, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, the ACLU of Hawaii, the Community Alliance on Prisons, A Woman's Voice International, and three individuals.

This measure appropriates funds for the expansion of work release programs for eligible female inmates. Your Committee finds that these programs play a significant role in breaking the cycle of recidivism among female inmates by providing them with the necessary life and job skills that will enable them to succeed in a post-incarceration setting.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 488, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 488, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.