Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2002

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Water and Land Use, to which was referred H.B. No. 2793 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to preserve undeveloped coastal areas of the State by requiring that one percent of all state appropriations for capital improvements designated for the construction or renovation of state buildings be deposited into the Park Acquisition Trust Fund (Trust Fund).

The Department of Land and Natural Resources, the Sierra Club, Hawaii Chapter, and The Trust for Public Land testified in support of this measure. Opposing this bill were the Department of Budget and Finance and a concerned individual.

The Trust Fund was created in 1997 to provide a vehicle to receive donations to help purchase park lands. Since then, however, the public response in the form of donations has been less than anticipated. Therefore, the funding mechanism proposed in this bill will greatly enhance the acquisition of new lands.

There was some concern that the proposed funding mechanism for the Trust Fund would affect the Works of Art Special Fund, under section 103-8.5, Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS), since the funding sources are similar. Your Committee would like to clarify that the proposed one percent funding in this bill would be in addition to the one percent funding in section 103-8.5, HRS.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Water and Land Use that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2793 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Finance.