WHEREAS, the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 states "the historical and cultural foundations of the Nation should be preserved as a living part of our community life and development in order to give a sense of orientation to the American people"; and

WHEREAS, the state of Hawaii recognized this commitment to historic preservation in H.R.S. §6E-1, stating in part "the legislature further declares that it is in the public interest to engage in a comprehensive program of historic preservation at all levels of government to promote the use and conservation of such property for the education, inspiration, pleasure, and enrichment of its citizens"; and

WHEREAS, President Bush has affirmed the importance of historic preservation when he said, "Anything we can do to preserve our history and share it with the public, especially students, and other young people, is an important service in these challenging times"; and

WHEREAS, Hawaii has a unique and spectacular history found no where else in the world that should be preserved and shared for current and future generation and with the millions of individuals who visit the state each year; and

WHEREAS, numerous studies show that historic preservation can benefit the state economically by attracting visitors to historic sites, creating jobs, and increasing property values through initiatives such as heritage tourism; and

WHEREAS, historic preservation needs financial support in order to preserve and maintain historic sites; and

WHEREAS, the Department of Land and Natural Resources' State Historic Preservation has an inventory of approximately 38,000 historic places and is expanding at a rate of about 1,000 additional sites per year; and

WHEREAS, the federal government rewards states that emphasize and fund historic preservation projects through the Federal Historic Preservation Fund, which provides a two third match (60% Federal/40% non-Federal) of non-Federal funding sources for local historic preservation efforts; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-third Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2006, that this body support historic preservation efforts; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this body provide additional financial support to historic preservation efforts statewide; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Speaker of the House, and the chairman of the House Finance committee.

Report Title:

Historic Preservation; support