SB2911

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that the Hawaii United Okinawa Association is a non-profit organization certified to be tax exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended. It was established in 1951 and serves as the umbrella organization for fifty member clubs statewide. The member clubs are comprised of approximately forty thousand members, whose ancestors immigrated to Hawaii from the same region in Okinawa. The goals of the Hawaii United Okinawa Association are to promote, preserve, and perpetuate the Okinawan culture, enhance awareness of the Okinawan culture and heritage in Hawaii through education, and provide community services. One of the association's most significant events is its two‑day Okinawan Festival at Kapiolani park that attracts over seventy thousand people annually. More than one thousand volunteers help to stage this festival. The association also hosts the Children's Cultural Day Camp that provides two weeks of classes for over eighty students annually.

The Hawaii Okinawa Center is the headquarters of the Hawaii United Okinawa Association. Built in 1990, the center serves as a living tribute to the Okinawan immigrant pioneers who began arriving in Hawaii in 1900. The center provides space for cultural classes regarding performing arts, language, children's education, and international exchange and is open for the use and enjoyment of the general public, as well. Since it is one of the few large venues in the area, the center provides families, school, and organizations with space for meetings and banquets. It is also the venue for numerous other community activities, seminars, and civic events.

However, the needs of the association and its member clubs have exceeded the available space at the center. Additional space is necessary for the association and its committees and member clubs to hold efficient meetings, such as the Okinawan Festival's planning meeting.

The association has purchased over eighty‑six thousand square feet of property directly across from the center and plans to develop the new property to meet the present and future expanding needs of the association. The association plans to use the new property to provide additional office space and parking; develop local adult day care and pre‑school programs; construct a commercial kitchen for use by member clubs to reduce dependence on outside vendors and help sustain the cost of the association's other activities; and house Okinawa‑related businesses that help member clubs by maintaining and promoting contact with Okinawa by coordinating student exchanges and visits by Okinawan dignitaries and by promoting the annual Okinawan Festival to the mainland and abroad.

SECTION 2. Act 160, Session Laws of Hawaii 2006, is amended by amending section 5 (amending section 85 of Act 178, Session Laws of Hawaii 2005), by further amending part B, item 6.01 to read as follows:

"6.01. HAWAII UNITED OKINAWA ASSOCIATION, OAHU

LAND ACQUISITION [~~FOR~~] RELATING TO THE EXPANSION OF THE HAWAII OKINAWA CENTER IN WAIPIO GENTRY. THIS PROJECT QUALIFIES AS A GRANT, PURSUANT TO CHAPTER 42F, HRS.

LAND 1,600

TOTAL FUNDING LBR C 1,600 C"

SECTION 3. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________

THE SENATE	S.B. NO.	2911
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2008
STATE OF HAWAII