STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1120

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 433

H.D. 1

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2025

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Public Safety and Military Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 433, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC SAFETY,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate funds to the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation for reentry services to connect offenders with community-based services.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Hawaii Correctional System Oversight Commission, Office of the Public Defender, Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Community Alliance on Prisons, ACLU of Hawaiʻi, Chamber of Commerce Hawaii, Hawaii Substance Abuse Coalition, Hawaiʻi Women Lawyers, Opportunity for Youth Action Hawaiʻi, Hawaiʻi Friends of Restorative Justice, and two individuals.

Your Committee finds that the transition from incarceration back into society is one of the most challenging yet critical periods for individuals in the process of criminal rehabilitation. Without access to comprehensive support during this phase, many recently released people face insurmountable barriers to securing employment, stable housing, education, and necessary mental health care. These unmet needs often lead to reoffending, perpetuating a costly and damaging cycle of incarceration that adversely affects individuals, families, and entire communities.

Your Committee further finds that sustained funding for reentry services is essential to breaking this cycle and ensuring lasting change, which this measure will accomplish by appropriating funds to the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation for the provision of reentry services to individuals transitioning from prison life back into society.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Adding a requirement that the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation submit annual reports to the Legislature detailing the number of individuals released that received reentry services;

(2) Amending section 1 to reflect its amended purpose; and

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

Your Committee notes that this measure contains an unspecified appropriation amount. Should your Committee on Ways and Means choose to deliberate on this measure, your Committee respectfully requests that it consider inserting an appropriation amount of $4,000,000 for the provision of community-based reentry services to individuals transitioning out of incarceration.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Public Safety and Military Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 433, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 433, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

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

________________________________

BRANDON J.C. ELEFANTE, Chair