STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1110-22

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2022

RE: S.B. No. 2774

S.D. 1

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 S.B. No. 2774, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO WOMEN'S COMMUNITY CORRECTIONAL CENTER,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to provide funding for the Women's Community Correctional Center to expand reentry planning circles, also known as huikahi restorative circles, which are a part of a reentry planning process shown to decrease recidivism.

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

Your Committee finds that reentry planning circles have succeeded in allowing incarcerated people to reconnect and reconcile with their families prior to release and to further develop their support system in the community. This gradual process of reintegration has been shown to reduce recidivism. By appropriating funds for huikahi restorative circles at the Women's Community Correctional Facility this measure further supports efforts to have incarcerated women reconnect and reconcile with their families prior to their release from incarceration.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Inserting a preamble;

(2) Broadening the scope of the appropriation to reentry planning circles for incarcerated women;

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

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

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 S.B. No. 2774, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2774, S.D. 1, 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