HB756

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	756
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2007
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

SECTION 1. The legislature recognizes that Hawaii faces perpetual risk from a variety of potential natural disasters and after-effects, including hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunami, and flooding. To help alleviate the State's vulnerability to natural disasters, the legislature intends to improve the State's disaster readiness to protect the safety of its citizens by increasing the number of public emergency shelters and strengthening state construction to withstand all categories of hurricanes.

The purpose of this Act is to require existing state buildings to be retrofitted, if necessary, to withstand category 5 hurricanes and to be retrofitted and equipped for use as public emergency shelters.

SECTION 2. Chapter 128, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"§128- Public emergency shelters; retrofit of state government buildings. (a) Existing state government buildings or structures designated by the comptroller as capable of being retrofitted shall be retrofitted to meet hurricane resistive criteria.

(b) Existing state government buildings designated by the comptroller as capable of being used as an emergency public shelter shall be retrofitted and equipped for use, in whole or part, as shelters for housing the public during an emergency, in accordance with hurricane resistive criteria.

(c) For the purposes of this section, "hurricane resistive criteria" means the design criteria for enhanced hurricane protection areas and capable of withstanding a five hundred-year hurricane event, including category 5 hurricanes, as developed by the department of defense for public emergency shelter and residential safe room design criteria pursuant to Act 5, Special Session Laws of Hawaii 2005."

SECTION 3. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $ , or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2007-2008, and the same sum, or so much thereof as may be necessary, is appropriated for fiscal year 2008-2009, to carry out the purposes of this Act, including the hiring of necessary staff.

The sums appropriated shall be expended by the comptroller for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 4. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 5. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2007.

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________