STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1679

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 1083

       H.D. 2

       S.D. 2

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2007

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred H.B. No. 1083, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HIGH TECHNOLOGY,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to authorize the High Technology Development Corporation to negotiate a lease agreement and lease guaranty for a period of five years for approximately ninety-nine thousand square feet of laboratory and office space in a life sciences research complex in Kakaako.

     The High Technology Development Corporation, Hawaii Community Development Authority, University of Hawai‘i John A. Burns School of Medicine, Hawaii Science & Technology Council, American Society of Civil Engineers, Kamehameha Schools, KUD International and Phase 3 Properties, and Honolulu Seawater Air Conditioning, LLC submitted written testimony in support of this measure.

     Your Committee finds that this measure begins to address the shortage of specialized laboratory space needed if Hawaii's high technology sector is to continue its growth.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Designating sections 1 through 5 as Part I and changing the lease period from five years to an unspecified term; and

     (2)  Adding two new parts from bills previously heard and approved by this Committee as follows:

          (A)  Part II appropriates funds for the Hawaii Small Business Innovation Research Grant Program and the Hawaii Small Business Technology Transfer Program (S.B. No. 323, S.D. 2); and

          (B)  Part III establishes a research and development follow-on funding program for Hawaii‑based small businesses that received federal funding through the Hawaii Technology Development Venture or the National Defense Center of Excellence for Research in Ocean Sciences and appropriates funds as a grant pursuant to chapter 42F, Hawaii Revised Statutes, to be expended by the Hawaii Strategic Development Corporation for that purpose (S.B. No. 1688, S.D. 1).

     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 H.B. No. 1083, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1083, H.D. 2, S.D. 2.

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

____________________________

ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair