STAND. COM. REP. NO. 569

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 204

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2013

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 204 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 fund holistic treatment and support and transition services for the ex-offender population.

 

     More specifically, this measure appropriates funds for fiscal year 2014-2015 to incentivize and match funds for programs that are specifically designed to help offenders transition safely back into the community.

 

     Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, Community Alliance On Prisons, and nine individuals.

 

     Your Committee finds that the reintegration of ex-offenders into the general population is a process and that programs that assist in this transition improve the chances of a smoother, more successful return to the community.  The successful reintegration of ex-offenders benefits the community and reduces recidivism.  Your Committee further finds that providing matching funds for programs that assist in the transition of ex-offenders will increase employment rates for ex-offenders, incentivize partnership and investment in these programs, and improve the general welfare of the State.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

(1)  Clarifying that the appropriation shall be expended only upon the commitment of private or public matching funds; and

 

(2)  Making a technical nonsubstantive amendment for the purpose of clarity 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. 204, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 204, S.D. 1.

 

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

 

		____________________________ DAVID Y. IGE, Chair