STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2094

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2308

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2014

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committees on Human Services and Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 2308 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CHILDREN,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate $250,000 to the Department of Public Safety for programs and services that support the children of incarcerated parents and help with family reunification.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Public Safety, Hawaii Youth Services Network, Hawaii Primary Care Association, and Community Alliance on Prisons.

     Your Committees find that children of incarcerated parents are seven times more likely to enter the juvenile or adult correctional systems themselves and are at increased risk of abuse and neglect, having mental problems, and having difficulty in school.  Your Committees also find that prisoners who have regular contact with their children are less likely to violate prison rules, more likely to take advantage of rehabilitation and educational opportunities in prison, and have higher chances of successful reintegration into the community.  This measure supports programs and services of the Department of Public Safety that address family core issues and enables the Department to expand its programs and services to all willing inmates who may have children that have been emotionally or behaviorally affected by the incarceration of a parent.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Human Services and Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2308 and recommend that it pass Second Reading 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 Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs,

____________________________ WILL ESPERO, Chair

____________________________ SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair