STAND. COM. REP. NO. 582

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 1228

       S.D. 1

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2007

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Economic Development and Taxation, to which was referred S.B. No. 1228 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HISTORICAL PRESERVATION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to establish the Honouliuli Internment Camp Memorial, and to appropriate funds for this purpose.

     Testimony in support of this measure was received from the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR), Historic Hawai‘i Foundation, Japanese American National Heritage Coalition, and Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai‘i.

     Your Committee finds that the story of Hawaii World War II internees has remained largely unknown for many years.  The passage of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, and the subsequent search for former internees has led to an increased awareness of how Hawaii's internees fared, and the knowledge that many of the former internment camps have disappeared or will in the near future.

     Your Committee further finds that in January 2007, President Bush signed into law, a bill that creates a $38,000,000 grant program to help communities preserve the sites where Japanese Americans and Japanese nationals were incarcerated.  Development of memorials will be eligible for twenty-five per cent matching federal funds administered by the National Park Service.

     Your Committee has heard that while there has been some effort made to compile information on Honouliuli and the other Hawaii internment camps, there is much left to do before any memorial can be established.

     Your Committee believes this information is critical in preserving Hawaii's cultural and military history, and that immediate efforts should focus on DLNR and the appropriate cultural organizations working together on the most appropriate means of memorializing a troubling time in American and Hawaii history.

     Your Committee has amended this measure accordingly, by:

     (1)  Deleting the proposed new section in chapter 6E, Hawaii Revised Statutes, regarding establishment of a Honouliuli Internment Memorial Camp;

     (2)  Inserting a findings and purpose section; and

     (3)  Requiring DLNR, with the assistance of appropriate cultural and historical organizations, to establish a process to determine the most appropriate means of memorializing the World War II Japanese internment camp experience in Hawaii.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Economic Development and Taxation that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1228, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1228, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Economic Development and Taxation,

____________________________

CAROL FUKUNAGA, Chair