STAND. COM. REP. NO. 127-22

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2022

RE: H.B. No. 1780

H.D. 1

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Corrections, Military, & Veterans, to which was referred H.B. No. 1780 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE JUDICIARY,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to appropriate monies for residential programs that allow minor children to remain with their mothers while participating in the program, including community-based furlough programs, residential drug treatment programs, therapeutic community programs, and mental health programs, to reduce the risk of trauma and multigenerational incarceration.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Judiciary, Community Alliance on Prisons, Women's Prison Project, Hawai‘i Friends of Restorative Justice, Hawaii Substance Abuse Coalition, and two individuals. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Public Safety and Department of Budget and Finance.

Your Committee finds that, as of 2018, seventy-five percent of incarcerated women in Hawaii had children. Your Committee further finds that studies have shown that when women in the criminal justice system are separated from their children, the experience has devastating impacts on the children's mental health and development and can increase the risk of multigenerational incarceration. The separation also has a traumatic effect on mothers.

Your Committee also finds that, although the number of programs that allow minors to remain with their mothers while in treatment is limited, there is a need for these programs. Funding to the Judiciary will provide a resource for these programs to increase operations and bed space.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Changing the effective date to July 1, 3000, to encourage further discussion; and

(2) Making a technical, nonsubstantive amendment for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

As this measure proceeds through the legislative process, your Committee requests that the liability concerns raised by the Department of Public Safety be considered and addressed.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Corrections, Military, & Veterans that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1780, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1780, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Corrections, Military, & Veterans,

____________________________

TAKASHI OHNO, Chair