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HB1197 • 2026

RELATING TO CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY.

RELATING TO CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY.

Education Healthcare
Active

The official status still shows this bill as active or still awaiting another formal step.

Sponsor
SHIMIZU, ALCOS, GARCIA, LA CHICA, MATSUMOTO, PIERICK, REYES ODA, WARD
Last action
2025-12-08
Official status
Carried over to 2026 Regular Session.
Effective date
Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

The official source material does not provide specific details on how much funding will be allocated or what steps are required for implementation.

Clinical Psychology Partnerships

This bill allows the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to use student education partnerships to increase mental health care providers in correctional facilities and provides funding for this purpose.

What This Bill Does

  • Authorizes the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to utilize student education partnerships to expand clinical psychologists and other mental health professionals working in correctional facilities across the State.

Who It Names or Affects

  • The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
  • Students and trainees at universities and medical schools
  • Prisoners in correctional facilities

Terms To Know

Clinical Psychologists
Mental health professionals who diagnose, treat, and help prevent mental disorders.
Student Education Partnerships
Collaborations between educational institutions and the Department of Corrections to provide training opportunities for students in correctional facilities.

Limits and Unknowns

  • The bill does not specify how much funding will be provided.
  • It is unclear what specific steps the department must take to implement these partnerships.

Bill History

  1. 2025-12-08 D

    Carried over to 2026 Regular Session.

  2. 2025-02-05 H

    The committee(s) on PBS recommend(s) that the measure be deferred.

  3. 2025-01-31 H

    Bill scheduled for decision making on Wednesday, 02-05-25 11:00AM in conference room 411 VIA VIDEOCONFERENCE.

  4. 2025-01-31 H

    The committee(s) on PBS recommend(s) that the measure be deferred until 02-05-25 at 11:00AM.

  5. 2025-01-28 H

    Bill scheduled to be heard by PBS on Friday, 01-31-25 10:00AM in House conference room 411 VIA VIDEOCONFERENCE.

  6. 2025-01-27 H

    Referred to PBS, FIN, referral sheet 4

  7. 2025-01-23 H

    Introduced and Pass First Reading.

  8. 2025-01-22 H

    Pending introduction.

Official Summary Text

RELATING TO CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY.
DC&R Clinical Psychologists; Student Education Partnerships ($)
Authorizes the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to utilize student education partnerships to increase the amount of mental health care providers in correctional facilities across the State. Appropriates funds.

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text 
HB1197

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

1197

THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2025

STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

RELATING
TO CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY
.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

����
SECTION
1.
�
The legislature finds that a 2019
ACLU report showed that five thousand one hundred people are incarcerated in
Hawaii's prisons and jails.
�
Alarmingly,
the current system is only meant to house about three thousand five hundred
people resulting in severe overcrowding.
�

In 2019, Hawaii admitted an average of more than one thousand
thirty-seven prisoners per month to the state correctional system.
�
It is estimated that the cost of
incarceration per adult prisoner is nearly eighty thousand dollars per
year.
�
These figures illustrate a strain
upon the State's resources as many of those inmates suffer from mental
illnesses and require specialized care that the current facilities are not
structured to support.
�
The legislature
finds that Hawaii's prison system is in dire need of reform particularly in its
delivery of mental health care services to inmates across facilities
statewide.
�

����
In a
report to the legislature, the department of corrections and rehabilitation
outlined a plan in partnership with the University of Hawaii John A. Burns
School of Medicine (JABSOM) and the Queen's Health Systems (QHS), to provide
opportunities for JABSOM residents to complete clinical rotations in psychiatry
at the Oahu Community Correctional

Center.
�
In
particular, the report highlighted the need for additional funding to match
JABSOM and QHS cost increases in order to continue these contractual
agreements.
�
Further, the department is
subject to increased costs associated with participation in the Hawaii
Psychology Internship Consortium (HIPIC).
�

Additional resource requirements are also needed to expand APA
accredited clinical psychology internship opportunities within the correctional
facilities.
�
The legislature finds that
by facilitating these student education partnerships through various funding
mechanisms as determined by the department, the State may begin to see
necessary prison reform.

����
The
purpose of this Act is to:

����
(1)
�
Authorize the department of corrections and
rehabilitation the ability to prioritize the utilization of student education
partnerships to expand clinical psychologists in correctional facilities
throughout the State; and

����
(2)
�
Provide additional long-term funding to the
department to expand its clinical psychology training programs.

����
SECTION
2
.
�
Section 353-13.3, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
amended to read as follows:

����
"
[�353-13.3]
�
Mental
health care.
�
The department shall be
responsible for providing mental health services in community correctional
centers
and shall utilize student education partnerships to expand clinical
psychologists and mental health care providers in correctional facilities
throughout the State
."

����
SECTION
3.
�
There is appropriated out of the
general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $
��������
or so much thereof as may be necessary
for fiscal year 2025-2026 and the same sum or so much thereof as may be
necessary for fiscal year 2026-2027 for supporting and expanding clinical
psychology training programs within the department.

����
The sums

appropriated shall be expended by the
department of corrections and rehabilitation for the purposes of this Act.

����
SECTION
4.
�
New statutory material is
underscored.

����
SECTION
5.
�
This Act shall take effect upon
approval.

INTRODUCED BY:

_____________________________

Report Title:

DC&R;
Clinical Psychologists; Student Education Partnerships

Description:

Authorizes
the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to utilize student education
partnerships to increase the amount of mental health care providers in
correctional facilities across the State.
�

Appropriates funds.

The summary description
of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is
not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.