STAND. COM. REP. NO. 93

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 74

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2013

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 74 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CORRECTIONS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

     (1)  Permit committed persons to create and place for sale approved products and crafts;

     (2)  Allocate the proceeds from sales to rehabilitation programs, the crime victim compensation special fund, and the committed person's account; and

     (3)  Require the Department of Public Safety to study other states' practices on the making and sale of crafts by inmates and report findings to the Legislature.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Public Safety, Crime Victim Compensation Commission, Community Alliance on Prisons, American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii, Drug Policy Forum of Hawaii, and one individual.

     Your Committee finds that the development of cost-efficient and effective programs aimed at reducing recidivism help to alleviate overcrowding in Hawaii's prisons and rehabilitate committed persons.  This measure will encourage incarcerated persons to develop marketable skills and prepare them for successful reentry into society and the workforce upon their release.  Furthermore, this program will help support victim restitution because twenty-five percent of sales will be deposited into the crime victim compensation fund.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 74 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

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

____________________________

WILL ESPERO, Chair