STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3284

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    H.B. No. 2363

       H.D. 2

       S.D. 2

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2014

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred H.B. No. 2363, H.D. 2, S.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 establish a pilot project to demonstrate the cost-effectiveness of providing a coordinated system of reentry treatment and support services to help nonviolent, low-risk drug offenders transition from jail or prison back into the community.

 

     Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney, City and County of Honolulu; Hawaii Substance Abuse Coalition; and Community Alliance on Prisons.  The Department of Public Safety submitted written comments on the measure.

 

     Your Committee finds that nonviolent, low-risk drug offenders can be effectively and safely transitioned from jail or prison back into the community with the help of a comprehensive and coordinated continuum of evidence-based treatment services.  Your Committee believes that this pilot project may not only help to reduce costs to the State, but may also break the costly cycle of offender drug use, crime, and incarceration by significantly reducing recidivism and providing nonviolent, low-risk drug offenders with the appropriate treatment to transition back into the community and maintain further recovery.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

(1)  Requiring the Department of Public Safety to submit an annual report to the Legislature of its findings and recommendations, including any proposed legislation; and

 

(2)  Changing the effective date to July 1, 2050, to facilitate further discussion on the measure.

 

     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 H.B. No. 2363, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2363, H.D. 2, S.D. 2.

 

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

 

 

 

____________________________

DAVID Y. IGE, Chair