RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, the Legislature takes a strong interest in broadening and stabilizing Hawaii's economic base as well as continuing to support the state's tourism market; and

WHEREAS, Hawaii's over-dependence on tourism is seen today as an error that requires correction; and

WHEREAS, there is little dispute in the post-September 11^th world that the tourism-dependence syndrome that has long been the mainstay of our economy will not bring the solutions that we implicitly need to survive, not even if we return to pre-9/11 levels; and

WHEREAS, the short-range effects of Hawaii's current economic crisis could leave the State devastated based on it's tourism-dependence syndrome; and

WHEREAS, the strong desire from our island people for real solution to their economic plight poses the possibility that out of crisis can come the potential for long-range solutions; and

WHEREAS, Hawaii residents have never been able to consider inter-island commuting because of the prohibitive existing costs to do so; and

WHEREAS, current urban residents, forced to live in crowded and expensive housing in order to be near their workplaces, would be anxious to relocate to neighbor islands if they could still commute to their jobs, or be assured of new employment in their new home; and

WHEREAS, Hawaii is the most geographically isolated land mass in the world, thereby creating our strong dependence on aircraft transportation; and

WHEREAS, the Highways in the Sky program can be implemented almost immediately at minimum start-up capital cost without any initial investment in such major infrastructure as traditional highways; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2003, the Senate concurring, that the Department of Transportation conduct a feasibility study of the Highway in the Sky program; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the report shall be returned to the Office of the Governor and the Legislature no later than 30 days prior to the start of the regular session 2004; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Department of Transportation.

Report Title:

Requesting a feasibility study of the Highway in the Sky program