STAND

STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1081-06

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2006

RE: H.B. No. 970

H.D. 1

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2006

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Finance, to which was referred H.B. No. 970 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EMERGENCY RELIEF FOR NATURAL DISASTERS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to help mitigate the aftermath of natural disasters by allowing the Governor, upon the declaration of an emergency, to release up to ten percent of the total moneys available in the Emergency and Budget Reserve Fund to provide assistance to residents and businesses that have sustained damage during or immediately after a natural disaster.

On March 17, 2006, the Governor sent a message requesting your immediate consideration and passage of this bill to appropriate emergency funding to "address the immediate emergency costs being incurred by various departments as a result of the recent devastation on Kauai[.]"

For purposes of the public hearing, your Committee circulated a proposed H.D. 1 version that deletes the provisions of the bill and inserts new language providing emergency appropriations as requested by the Governor.

The Department of Defense (DOD), Department of the Attorney General (AG), Department of Agriculture (DOA), Department of Transportation (DOT), and Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) testified in support of the proposed draft.

After careful consideration, your Committee has amended this bill by deleting its substance and inserting the contents of the proposed H.D. 1 version along with certain reporting requirements. Specifically, this measure seeks to repair the damage and destruction caused by the storms that ravaged Hawaii during February and March 2006 and address related issues by, among other things:

(1) Making emergency appropriations of:

(A) $50,000 in general revenues to DOA;

(B) $1,000,000 in general revenues to AG;

(D) $5,284,000 in general revenues to DLNR;

(E) $2,800,000 from the State Highway Fund (Highway Fund) to DOT; and

(F) $3,200,000 in federal funds to DOT;

and

(2) Requiring detailed periodic reports to the Legislature concerning the expenditures.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Finance that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 970, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 970, H.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Finance,

		____________________________ DWIGHT TAKAMINE, Chair