Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2003

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 1066 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to appropriate funds for the maintenance and upkeep of Puea cemetery.

Puea cemetery, in Kapalama, is one of four major state cemeteries on Oahu, with graves that date back one hundred years. It contains the remains of persons of many of Hawai`i's ethnic background, including Hawaiian, Japanese, Chinese, Portuguese, Filipino, Korean, Irish, and Puerto Rican. The portion of the cemetery maintained by the Kaahumanu Society is well-kept and protected by a chain-link fence. However, the remainder is subject to litter and disrespect by passersby.

The Legislature has previously recognized the importance of maintaining our ancestral gravesites, when it passed Act 160, Session Laws of Hawaii 2001, which appropriated funds to maintain the Nanakuli homestead cemetery. Your Committee finds that Puea cemetery is also worthy of maintenance and upkeep, and that this bill will assist in that endeavor.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1066 and recommends that it pass Third Reading.