Appropriates funds to the Filipino centennial celebration commission for the celebration of the Filipino centennial anniversary of their arrival in Hawaii.

A BILL FOR AN ACT

SECTION 1. Act 159, Session Laws of Hawaii 2002, established a fifteen-member Filipino centennial celebration commission to plan for the commemoration of the one-hundredth anniversary of the arrival of the first Filipinos in Hawaii. The legislature finds that Filipinos have made great contributions to the life and culture of the Hawaiian Islands, and joins with them in honoring the pioneering spirit of the first Filipinos who traveled across the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean to Hawaii.

The purpose of this Act is to appropriate funds to the Filipino centennial celebration commission in preparation for its celebration in 2006.

SECTION 2. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $500,000 or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2005-2006 for the Filipino centennial celebration, to be matched by the Filipino centennial celebration commission.

The sum appropriated shall be expended by the Filipino centennial celebration commission for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 3. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2005.