Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2004

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Economic Development and Labor, to which was referred S.C.R. No. 67 entitled:

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to request the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism and the Workforce Development Council to update the Legislature on the progress of formulating a report that identifies promising industry clusters, develops important labor supply-demand matrixes, and discusses ways of expanding educational opportunities as part of the Department's ongoing initiative to better understand and predict Hawaii's future labor force needs.

Testimony in support of this measure was received from the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism, the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, and the Workforce Development Council.

Your Committees find that this measure recognizes the importance of taking a proactive approach in identifying strategies that will not only diversify Hawaii's economy, but also support and sustain a highly skilled and well paid workforce. In order to accomplish these goals, the State must adopt and implement a multi-pronged strategy which identifies and develops specific industries in order to maximize their economic and workforce potential, expand educational opportunities for Hawaii's citizens, and develop labor supply and demand matrices to better predict future labor force demands.

Your Committees note that the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism and the Workforce Development Council are in the process of finalizing this report for distribution prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2005 and therefore await the findings and recommendations outlined in this report.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Economic Development and Labor that are attached to this report, your Committees concur with the intent and purpose of S.C.R. No. 67 and recommend its adoption.