STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2795

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2214

S.D. 2

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2006

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 2214, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO DISASTER PREPAREDNESS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to enhance the State's civil defense responsiveness in times of natural disaster.

Specifically, this bill seeks to protect public health, safety, welfare, and property, by providing for:

(1) Building code standards for state buildings;

(2) Civil defense sirens in residential developments;

(3) Tax credits for homeowners for installation of wind resistive devices;

(4) Underground electric transmission lines;

(5) Restrictions on National Guard deployment;

(6) Allocation of part of the general fund appropriation for fiscal years 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 to establish an emergency cache;

(7) Prohibition on profiteering and price gouging;

(8) Residential disaster assistance special fund; and

(9) Appropriations for civil defense.

Your Committee finds that the State must have a comprehensive emergency preparedness program to mitigate hazards, enhance preparedness for major disasters, and accelerate response and recovery when disaster strikes. The goal is to enhance and fortify the State's ability to save lives and protect property in the event of disaster.

Your Committee has amended this measure by retaining certain provisions and by including certain provisions from SB2288, SB2857, SB2955, and SB3268. Specifically, your Committee has amended this bill by:

(1) Establishing the civil defense disaster preparedness special fund and making an appropriation to the fund to be expended by the Director of Civil Defense for disaster preparedness planning, infrastructure, and response;

(2) Requiring hospitals, nursing homes, and hotels to prepare disaster preparedness plans to provide adequate emergency shelter for patients, guests, and staff;

(3) Requiring the Department of Health to conduct a study to assess the structural integrity of all hospitals and nursing homes in Hawaii;

(4) Requiring the counties to identify, designate, and maintain areas to be used for temporary emergency shelters for the homeless and makes an appropriation therefor;

(5) Making an appropriation to increase the number of safe emergency shelters in the community;

(6) Allowing the Governor, on declaring an emergency, to release funds from the emergency and budget reserve fund to provide emergency assistance to residents and businesses in the State;

(7) Increasing the amount of funds available from the major disaster fund in the event of a major disaster or emergency from $1,000,000 to $2,000,000;

(8) Requiring the Departments of Education and Defense to assess the disaster-worthiness of Department of Education facilities designated as emergency shelters, making an appropriation to retrofit facilities in need of upgrades, and identify sites for new emergency shelters;

(9) Allowing transfer of funds from the hurricane reserve trust fund to the loss mitigation grant fund;

(10) Establishing a rebuttable presumption that electric transmission lines will be placed underground in tsunami-prone areas;

(11) Reordering existing and inserted provisions to organize them under separate parts in the measure relating to disaster preparedness concerning planning, assessment, and response; and

(12) Making technical nonsubstantive amendments for purposes of style, clarity, and consistency.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2214, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2214, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

____________________________

BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair