STAND. COM. REP. NO.  917

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2009

 

RE:   H.B. No. 1152

      H.D. 1

 

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Fifth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2009

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Finance, to which was referred H.B. No. 1152, H.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO COMMITTED PERSONS' ACCOUNTS,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this bill is to require the Department of Public Safety (DPS) to establish one or more accounts with one or more financial institutions to maintain the funds of inmates during incarceration and to allow inmates to use their own funds for approved expenses and purchases during incarceration.  The Director of Public Safety is also authorized to designate a percentage of all funds earned by the inmate to be deposited and held in a non-spendable account to provide funds to the inmate upon release from custody.  None of these accounts is interest-bearing.

 

     DPS testified in support of this bill.  The Community Alliance on Prisons, The Hepatitis Network's Prisoner Reintegration Program, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and several concerned individuals opposed this measure.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Finance that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1152, H.D. 1, and recommends that it pass Third Reading.

 

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

 

 

 

 

____________________________

MARCUS R. OSHIRO, Chair