STAND. COM. REP. NO. 742

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 1402

       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. 1402 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE LOSS MITIGATION GRANT FUND,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to appropriate funds out of the loss mitigation grant fund for the loss mitigation grant program.

     Your Committee received supporting comments from the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs and the Hawaii Lumber Products Association.  The Department of Defense deferred to the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs for comment and recommendations.

     Your Committee finds that Act 5, Special Session, Session Laws of Hawaii 2005 appropriated $2,000,000 for the loss mitigation grant program to provide grants for the installation of wind resistive devices for dwellings.  The funds, however, have since lapsed due to the time consuming development of technical standards and program guidelines needed to administer the program.

     This measure re-appropriates the lapsed funds under Act 5 to allow the grants to be awarded as intended under the loss mitigation grant program.

     Your Committee has amended the measure by changing the appropriation to an unspecified amount.

     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. 1402, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1402, S.D. 1.

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

____________________________

ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair