STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1042

                                   Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                     , 1999

                                   RE:  H.B. No. 531
                                        S.D. 1




Honorable Norman Mizuguchi
President of the Senate
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 1999
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred H.B. No.
531 entitled: 

     "A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CORRECTIONS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill, as received by your Committee, is
to ensure that both male and female incarcerated substance
abusers are given fair and equitable access to drug
rehabilitation services by appropriating funds for the expansion
of the Waiawa Correctional Facility's (WCF) KASHBOX drug
rehabilitation program to the Women's Community Correctional
Center (WCCC).

     Your Committee finds that there is a high correlation
between substance abuse and crime in Hawaii -- eighty to eighty-
five percent of all male criminal offenders currently in Hawaii's
correctional system need substance abuse treatment.  The
percentage of female inmates needing substance abuse treatment is
even higher at ninety-five percent.  Your Committee further finds
that the KASHBOX drug rehabilitation program has been highly
successful in helping incarcerated males.  On the other hand,
your Committee finds that the Ho'omana program, presently
operating at WCCC, is only able to serve a small portion of
Hawaii's incarcerated female population because of severe
underfunding.  Your Committee recognizes that the situation for
incarcerated women is equally critical as for incarcerated males.


 
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     Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the
Department of Public Safety, the Department of Health, the Office
of Hawaiian Affairs, Hawaii State Commission on the Status of
Women, the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and
County of Honolulu, the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii,
Government Efficiency Teams, Inc., the Sex Abuse Treatment
Center, a professor of Women's Studies at the University of
Hawaii at Manoa, and two private citizens.

     Upon further consideration, your Committee has amended this
measure by:

     (1)  Clarifying that the KASHBOX drug rehabilitation program
          is accessible to males incarcerated at Waiawa
          Correctional Facility, while the Ho'omana substance
          abuse treatment program is accessible to the females
          incarcerated at the Women's Community Correctional
          Center;

     (2)  Requiring the Department of Public Safety to conduct a
          gender equity assessment of its current programs to
          assure that women have the same access to substance
          abuse treatment as their male counterparts; and

     (3)  Making technical, non-substantive changes for the
          purposes of clarity and style.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your
Committee on Judiciary that is attached to this report, your
Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No.
531, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second
Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 531, S.D. 1, and
be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

                                   Respectfully submitted on
                                   behalf of the members of the
                                   Committee on Judiciary,



                                   ______________________________
                                   AVERY B. CHUMBLEY, Co-Chair



                                   ______________________________
                                   MATTHEW M. MATSUNAGA, Co-Chair

 
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