Makes appropriation for Pacific Aviation Museum Pearl Harbor to enter Phase II of development.

A BILL FOR AN ACT

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that the Pacific Aviation Museum at Pearl Harbor is a not-for-profit, tax-exempt Internal Revenue Code 501(c)(3) organization established in 1999. The museum’s purpose is to develop a portion of Ford Island into a world-class aviation museum that will honor the patriotism, valor, and sacrifice made by aviators and their ground support personnel in the defense of freedom in the Pacific. The scope of the new museum will include World War II, the Korean War, the Cold War, the Vietnam conflict, and current American air power. It will feature diorama exhibits, period and reproduction aircraft, an aviation education center, a flight simulation center, a theater, a museum store, a food service area, and a library.

To date, the museum has raised $12,600,000 in federal, state, and private funds. The 2004 state legislature appropriated a $1,000,000 grant-in-aid for the museum. The estimated total cost to complete Phase I of the museum's development plan, including indirect costs, is $12,000,000. The museum has completed detailed drawings for the restoration and build-out of Hanger 37, which will feature a display of the attack on Oahu and the early stages of World War II. Kiewit Construction has been selected as the general contractor with ground-breaking scheduled for February 2006. The museum is set to open Phase I on December 7, 2006.

Additional state funds are necessary to provide the foundation for Phase II of the museum to be housed in Hangar 79 on Ford Island. Phase II development shall include the planning, designing, and construction to improve and restore Hangar 79. The current cost to complete Phase II is estimated at $30,000,000. Phase II exhibits will encompass the campaigns of World War II, and an introduction to the Korean War and the Vietnam conflict. The museum will complete its fundraising in Hawaii over the next eighteen months and will then launch a national campaign to fund the balance of Phase II. The State’s ongoing support is extremely important in demonstrating to potential mainland funding sources the State’s strong backing of this important new initiative. This museum will be the most significant new amenity to Hawaii's tourism and education infrastructure since the arrival of the USS Missouri eight years ago. The State must appropriate the crucial funds to preserve aviation history and honor those who fought for our freedom.

The purpose of this Act is to appropriate moneys to the Pacific Aviation Museum at Pearl Harbor for Phase II of the museum’s development.

SECTION 2. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $2,000,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2006-2007, for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 3. The sum appropriated shall be expended by the Hawaii tourism authority, provided that funds expended shall be restricted to the planning, designing, and construction of museum facilities at hangar 79 on Ford Island.

SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2006.