STAND. COM. REP. NO. 524

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 1203

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2017

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 1203 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO TECHNICAL LITERACY FOR INCARCERATED INDIVIDUALS AND PAROLEES,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to establish the Technical Literacy for Incarcerated Individuals Pilot Program to be administered in one men's and one women's correctional facility in the State.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Paroling Authority, YWCA Oahu, and one individual.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Public Safety.

 

     Your Committee finds that helping inmates transition back into everyday life is a vital component of successful rehabilitation.  One way to assist inmates and parolees with their transition back into society is to provide them with training in job appropriate skills that will assist them in finding stable and profitable work upon their exit from the system.  In the current economy, providing inmates and parolees with computer science and entrepreneurship skills is particularly beneficial for giving those individuals an opportunity to re-enter society as productive members.  This measure seeks to address the important rehabilitative step of providing relevant education to inmates and parolees by establishing the Technical Literacy for Incarcerated Individuals Pilot Program at one men's and one women's correctional facility in the State to be administered by a third-party entity engaged in the business of developing curriculum for, administering, and providing support resources for technical literacy programs for individuals.  This measure:

 

     (1)  Establishes the pilot program to educate eligible inmates, as determined by the Department of Public Safety, on the fundamentals of computer science and programming through five hundred hours of instruction and self-study and provide additional course offerings for parolees that complete the initial five-hundred-hour program;

 

     (2)  Requires the Department of Public Safety to consult with the administering third-party entity on guidelines for determining eligibility for the pilot program; and

 

     (3)  Appropriates funds for the pilot program.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1203 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

 

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

 

 

 

________________________________

CLARENCE K. NISHIHARA, Chair