Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2001

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Tourism and Culture, to which was referred H.R. No. 84 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this resolution is to request the Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA) to convene a task force consisting of representatives from various State, County and Federal agencies to study ways to provide safe access to view volcano eruptions and establish a visitor observatory to offer safety and educational information.

Testimony in support of this measure was received from several members of the HTA, the Department of Land and Natural Resources, and the University of Hawaii at Hilo. The County of Hawaii submitted testimony in support of this measure but with suggested amendments.

Your Committee is cognizant that worldwide competition in the visitor industry gets more intense each year, and to gain a competitive edge, we need to pay attention to those distinctive features that no other destination has. Our active volcano is one of those features; however, it is imperative that we provide safe ways to take advantage of this attraction to our visitors and residents. A task force is a good start to identify the means to create a better structure for quality information dissemination and safe viewing of our active volcano.

To this effect, your Committee has amended this measure by:

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Tourism and Culture that is attached to this report, your Committee concurs with the intent and purpose of H.R. No. 84, as amended herein, and recommends that it be referred to the Committee on Finance, in the form attached hereto as H.R. No. 84, H.D. 1.