STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3200

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2433

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Judiciary and Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 2433 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO OFFENDER REENTRY PROGRAMS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Encourage inmates to participate in correctional educational programs and vocational training by offering subsidized tuition, housing, and health care benefits to qualifying inmates;

(2) Increase the quality and quantity of correctional mentorship, counseling, educational, and vocational training programs available to interested inmates; and

(3) Appropriate funds to expand model programs to include more quality educational and vocational programs and to fund rewards for inmates who participate in correctional education programs while incarcerated.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Public Safety, Hawai‘i Correctional System Oversight Commission, Hawaii Substance Abuse Coalition, Common Cause Hawaii, Community Alliance on Prisons, Women's Prison Project, and two individuals. Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from one individual. Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Budget and Finance and Department of Human Services.

Your Committees find that offering extensive and high-quality educational and vocational programs to inmates is effective in reducing rates of recidivism and the overall cost of the correctional system. Inmates who participate in education and mentorship programs while incarcerated are less likely to recidivate and are more likely to find employment after release. This measure will incentivize inmates to participate in education, vocational, and mentorship programs while incarcerated and reduce recidivism rates by appropriating funds for reward programs for inmates who participate in certain model programs and increasing the quality and quantity of programs available to inmates.

Your Committees have heard the testimony of the Department of Human Services suggesting the addition of peer support programs, peer specialists, and culturally appropriate and gender-responsive programs as part of the reentry programs included in this measure. Your Committees find that peer specialists can offer non-judgmental support, general education development, and work skills to develop employability. Your Committees further find that addressing historical and intergenerational trauma through culturally responsive and appropriate rehabilitation programs will be key for the successes of those incarcerated individuals during and after incarceration.

Your Committees have amended this measure by inserting an effective date of July 30, 2075, to encourage further discussion.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Judiciary and Ways and Means that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2433, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2433, S.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Judiciary and Ways and Means,

________________________________ DONOVAN M. DELA CRUZ, Chair

________________________________ KARL RHOADS, Chair