Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2005

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Education and Military Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 1029 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to appropriate funds for the Office of Veterans' Services to publish a Hawaii Veterans' newsletter.

Testimony in support of the measure was submitted by the Office of Veterans Services, Advisory Board on Veterans Services, a Councilmember from the County of Kauai, Disabled American Veterans, Maui County Veteran's Council, National Association for Uniformed Services, Oahu Veterans Council, and fourteen individuals.

Your Committee finds that veterans need to have timely information readily available both on the web and in their mailbox. Currently, there are over 114,000 veterans who reside in Hawaii. However, the Office of Veterans' Services does not have the resources to maintain a veterans' website nor the ability to produce a newsletter. The funding in this measure would inform the thousands of veterans of their benefits.

Your Committee has amended this measure by inserting the amount of $95,000 and clarifying that a portion of the amount shall be used to update the veterans' database.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Education and Military Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1029, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1029, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.