STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3063

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2532

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 2532 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PRISONS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to provide skills to inmates that will help them succeed after their release from incarceration.

More specifically, the measure:

(1) Establishes within the Department of Public Safety a working group that shall contract with an educational institution to establish a business, entrepreneurial, and financial literacy program focused on providing incarcerated students with access to a quality business education;

(2) Requires the Department of Public Safety to coordinate with an accredited institution of higher education to create a program designed to reduce recidivism and focus on providing inmates with business and entrepreneurial skills and financial literacy education; and

(3) Appropriates moneys for the pilot program.

Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from Hawaii Substance Abuse Coalition, Community Alliance on Prisons, Hawaii Health and Harm Reduction Center, Resilience Education, University of Virginia Darden School of Business, and several individuals.

Your Committee received written comments on this measure from the Department of Public Safety, Department of Budget and Finance, and University of Hawaii.

Your Committee finds that the pilot program to be created by this measure will provide inmates with financial knowledge and business skills that inmates may use to increase their chances of success and reduce their risk of recidivism after their release.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Clarifying that the working group shall create a pilot program designed to reduce recidivism and that the Department of Public Safety shall establish the working group;

(2) Clarifying that the Department of Public Safety, not the working group, shall contract with an educational institution to provide the instructional component of the pilot program;

(3) Specifying that the working group shall submit a report to the Legislature;

(4) Changing the appropriation from $400,000 to an unspecified amount;

(5) Changing the effective date to July 1, 2050, to facilitate further discussion on the measure; and

(6) Making technical nonsubstantive amendments for purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2532, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2532, S.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

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DONOVAN M. DELA CRUZ, Chair