STAND. COM. REP. NO. 801

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 Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 1228, S.D. 1, entitled:

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

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to establish a process to determine the most appropriate means of memorializing the World War II Japanese internment camp experience in Hawaii.

     The Department of Land and Natural Resources and the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii submitted comments in support.

     Your Committee finds that the internment of Japanese in Hawaii is less well known relative to the story of the mass forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans on the American west coast.  Many Japanese immigrant community leaders were interned at camps at Sand Island and Honouliuli on Oahu, Haiku on Maui, Kalaheo on Kauai, and Kilauea on the island of Hawaii.

Your Committee further finds that the preservation and recognition of internment camp sites can serve as an educational tool in history, civil liberties, and racial stereotyping.

Your Committee further finds that federal funds to further research and preserve the Hawaii internment camp experience are available provided that the State of Hawaii provides matching funds.

     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. 1228, S.D. 1, and recommends that it pass Third Reading.

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

____________________________

ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair