Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2004

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Public Safety and Military Affairs and Labor and Public Employment, to which was referred H.B. No. 2444 entitled:

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to establish an Assistant Adjutant General position for a newly established joint headquarters component of the state national guard.

The bill also raises the maximum grade level for the position from a brigadier general to that of a major general, as well as raises the grade level for comparable positions in the Army and Air Force divisions. The bill also requires the joint headquarters to be organized and equipped as directed by the Secretaries of the Army and the Air Force.

Your Committees received favorable testimony from the state Adjutant General.

Your Committees find that since the attack on the United States on September 11, 2001, the national guard has played a key role in homeland security and defense and operates jointly with our nation's active military forces. As such, the Chief of the National Guard Bureau directed that all states establish a joint forces headquarters by October 1, 2003.

This bill addresses this directive by formally establishing statutorily a joint headquarters that has already been established administratively, and by providing the State with an additional Assistant Adjutant General position to fully staff the needs of Hawaii's defense requirements and to ensure that the State is protected against terrorist attacks.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Public Safety and Military Affairs and Labor and Public Employment that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2444 and recommend that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Finance.