STAND. COM. REP. NO. 79

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2025

RE: H.B. No. 677

H.D. 1

Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2025

State of Hawaii

Madame:

Your Committee on Public Safety, to which was referred H.B. No. 677 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO IDENTIFICATION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

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

(1) In collaboration with various agencies and upon request of the inmates, assist inmates in obtaining their civil identification card, birth certificate, social security card, and other relevant identification necessary for successful reentry into society, as soon as practicable, but no later than one year before the inmate's parole or release date; and

(2) Initiate the process of obtaining identifying documents for inmates released to work furlough, extended furlough, or community placement programs, by providing the forms necessary for the inmate to obtain civil identification cards and other identifying documents to the inmate as soon as practicable, but no later than ninety days before the inmate's release date.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs; Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation; Hawaii Correctional System Oversight Commission; Office of the Public Defender; Waikiki Health; Community Alliance on Prisons; Hawaii Disability Rights Center; American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaiʻi; and two individuals. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Human Services.

Your Committee finds that this measure is one way to help individuals leaving the correctional system to reintegrate into society as smoothly as possible.

Your Committee has amended this measure by changing its effective date to July 1, 3000, to encourage further discussion.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Public Safety that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 677, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 677, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Public Safety,

____________________________

DELLA AU BELATTI, Chair