STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3073

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 2763

       H.D. 1

       S.D. 1

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2008

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committees on Human Services and Public Housing and Public Safety, to which was referred H.B. No. 2763, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE CHILDREN OF INCARCERATED PARENTS TASK FORCE,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to re-establish the Children of Incarcerated Parents Task Force, which ceased to exist on December 31, 2007, for a new term to last until December 31, 2011, to require annual task force reports to the Legislature, and to make a task force appropriation.

     Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the Task Force on Children of Incarcerated Parents, the Community Alliance on Prisons, the Drug Policy Forum of Hawai‘i, the Hawaii Youth Services Network, and one private citizen.  Comments on the measure were submitted by the Department of Human Services and the Department of Public Safety. 

     Your Committees find that children of incarcerated parents are six to seven times more likely to become incarcerated themselves, and that if the State is to reduce the current trend of escalating incarceration rates and costs, the factors that contribute to incarceration must be addressed.  Your Committees further find that that the establishment of services and programs for children of incarcerated parents will help to maintain family bonds and motivate parents to rebuild positive family lives, which will, in turn, ultimately help to reduce recidivism.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by changing its effective date to July 1, 2008.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Human Services and Public Housing and Public Safety that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2763, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2763, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Human Services and Public Housing and Public Safety,

____________________________ WILL ESPERO, Chair

____________________________ SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair