CONFERENCE COMMITTEE REP

CONFERENCE COMMITTEE REP. NO. 99-04

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2004

RE: S.B. No. 2134

H.D. 1

C.D. 1

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2004

State of Hawaii

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2004

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Conference on the disagreeing vote of the Senate to the amendments proposed by the House of Representatives in S.B. No. 2134, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE ENVIRONMENT,"

having met, and after full and free discussion, has agreed to recommend and does recommend to the respective Houses the final passage of this bill in an amended form.

The purpose of this measure is to establish the emergency environmental workforce to assist the counties in their fight against invasive species and to appropriate an unspecified amount of funds for that purpose.

Your Committee on Conference finds that the emergency environmental workforce that was originally established by Act 4, Third Special Session of 2001, in response to the September 11, 2001 national tragedy, proved effective in containing the dengue fever epidemic; eradicating the miconia plant and other invasive species; and reducing coqui frog and fire ant populations. While the workforce was initially intended to be a temporary measure to assist residents of Hawaii who were negatively impacted with reduced work schedules or layoffs by the national tragedy, your Committee on Conference believes that the program should be continued on a permanent basis due to its outstanding success in combating invasive species.

Your Committee on Conference intends that the workforce program be integrated with the work of the Hawaii invasive species council and be funded through moneys allocated to the council to fulfill its important legislative mandate against the proliferation of invasive species.

Your Committee on Conference amended this measure by:

(1) Clarifying that the emergency environmental workforce is a program that is administered by the Research Corporation of the University of Hawaii;

(2) Adding a requirement that the Research Corporation of the University of Hawaii submit a report on the emergency environmental workforce program to the legislature every year; and

(3) Deleting the unspecified appropriation.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the managers of your Committee on Conference that is attached to this report, your Committee on Conference is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2134, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Final Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2134, H.D. 1, C.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the managers:

ON THE PART OF THE HOUSE

ON THE PART OF THE SENATE

____________________________ HERMINA M. MORITA, Co-Chair		____________________________ J. KALANI ENGLISH, Co-Chair
____________________________ DWIGHT Y. TAKAMINE, Co-Chair		____________________________ RUSSELL KOKUBUN, Co-Chair
		____________________________ CAL KAWAMOTO, Co-Chair