HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.C.R. NO.	278
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2008
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

Requesting the Mayor, the City Council, and the Department of Parks and Recreation of the City and County of Honolulu to establish and implement a fair and balanced permitting process to ensure that women surfers and bodyboarders are treated equitably in their applications for permits to conduct shore water events that include surfing and bodyboarding contests for women on oahu.

     WHEREAS, there are many talented and dedicated female surfers and bodyboarders in the State who deserve a chance to participate in a contest of their own at a venue with world class waves and conditions on Oahu; and

WHEREAS, Hawaii women surfers and bodyboarders want and deserve equality in the water; and

WHEREAS, however, women surfers and bodyboarders are often relegated to less desirable wave venues; women's events lose sponsorship to male events or hold their event by sharing a day under a permit issued to a men's event; women's events are moved to smaller waves at the end of the season or the off season and, all too frequently, are denied permits to even hold their event on Oahu; and

     WHEREAS, the Department of Parks and Recreation of the City and County of Honolulu is responsible for issuing permits to conduct shore water events, which include surf and bodyboard contests; and

     WHEREAS, although the City and County of Honolulu has adopted rules relating to conditions for holding surfing and bodyboarding contests on Oahu, it appears that women's events have often been excluded or under-represented in receiving permits to conduct shore water events; and

     WHEREAS, for example, for the current year no permits were issued to allow women's surfing or bodyboarding contests on Oahu; and

     WHEREAS, the City and County of Honolulu's permit process for surfing and bodyboarding contests should be conducted more equitably, allowing women an equal opportunity to conduct surfing and bodyboarding events; now, therefore,

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-fourth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2008, the Senate concurring, that the Mayor, the City Council, and the Department of Parks and Recreation of the City and County of Honolulu are requested to consult and work together to establish and implement a fair and balanced permitting process to ensure that women surfers and bodyboarders are treated equitably in their applications for permits to hold women's shore water events on Oahu; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that, in working together to establish and implement a fair and balanced permitting process for shore water events, the Mayor, the City Council, and the Department of Parks and Recreation of the City and County of Honolulu are requested to ensure that the process adopted provide for an annual allocation of thirty per cent of all the permits issued on Oahu for shore water events for women's events; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Mayor, the Chairperson of the City Council, and the Director of Parks and Recreation of the City and County of Honolulu.

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title: 

City and County of Honolulu; Water Event Permits for Women