Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2002

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Hawaiian Affairs and Commerce, Consumer Protection and Housing, to which was referred S.B. No. 2232 entitled:

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to ensure that unencumbered funds that were appropriated for infrastructure improvements at Kikala-Keokea on the island of Hawaii will not lapse at the end of the 2001-2002 fiscal year.

Testimony in support of the measure was received from the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR).

Your Committees find that Act 144, Session Laws of Hawaii 2001 (Act 144) established and funded an Infrastructure Development Fund, to be administered by DLNR, for the completion of infrastructure at the Kikala-Keokea subdivision, subject to a dollar-for-dollar match from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA). All funding commitments to complete the design and construction of infrastructure improvements must be agreed upon in a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between OHA and DLNR before any funds can be expended. Your Committees also find that DLNR is still working on the MOA with OHA and the Attorney General to secure funding commitments and establish payment mechanisms to support this project.

Your Committees further find that the language contained in Act 144 will not permit the expenditure of funds after June 30, 2002, if they were not encumbered by that date. To address this situation and to meet the Legislature’s intended work period through June 30, 2004, DLNR has included a request in the LNR 101 (Public Lands Management) operating budget to extend the authorization for expenditure of the funds to June 30, 2003. A similar request would be submitted next fiscal year to extend the authorization to June 30, 2004.

Your Committees support providing funding for infrastructure improvements at the Kikala-Keokea subdivision either through the Executive Supplemental Budget as requested by the Governor or through passage of this measure.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Hawaiian Affairs and Commerce, Consumer Protection and Housing that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2232 and recommend that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.