STAND. COM. REP. NO. 790

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2025

RE: H.B. No. 1376

H.D. 2

Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2025

State of Hawaii

Madame:

Your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 1376, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CORRECTIONAL FACILITIES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to require the Director of Corrections and Rehabilitation to:

(1) Beginning July 1, 2028, reduce the number of committed felons incarcerated at private, out-of-state correctional institutions by twenty-five percent;

(2) Beginning July 1, 2030, reduce the number of committed felons incarcerated at private, out-of-state correctional institutions by fifty percent; and

(3) Submit annual reports to the Legislature on its actions and progress to meet the requirements of this measure.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of the Public Defender; ACLU of Hawaiʻi; Imua Alliance; Community Alliance on Prisons; Hawaiʻi Friends of Restorative Justice; and three individuals. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Your Committee finds that the gradual reduction of reliance on private, out-of-state prisons will increase accountability, provide greater control over correctional practices, and keep inmates close their families and communities, which will improve their post-release outcomes.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Clarifying that the term "private, out-of-state correctional institutions" includes correctional institutions outside the State operated for profit; and

(2) 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 Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1376, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it be referred to your Committee on Finance in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1376, H.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs,

____________________________

DAVID A. TARNAS, Chair