STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2890

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    GOV. MSG. NO. 257

 

 

 

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2008

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Transportation and International Affairs, to which was referred Governor's Message No. 257, submitting for study and consideration the nomination of: 

 

Director of the Department of Transportation

 

G.M. No. 257

BRENNON MORIOKA,

for a term to expire 12-06-2010,

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     Your Committee reviewed the personal history, resume, and statement submitted by the nominee, and finds Brennon Morioka to have the necessary qualifications to be nominated as the Director of the Department of Transportation.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of Brennon Morioka from a member of the House of Representatives; the Chief of Staff to the Governor; the state Comptroller; the Chairperson of the Board of Agriculture; the Chief Marketing Officer of the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism; the Director of Commerce and Consumer Affairs; the state Adjutant General; the Chairman of the Hawaiian Homes Commission; the Deputy Director of Human Resources Development; the Director of Labor and Industrial Relations; the Chairperson of the Board of Land and Natural Resources; three Deputy Directors of Transportation; the Chancellor of the University of Hawai‘i – West Oahu; and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.  Testimony in support was also received from the Executive Director of the Oahu Metropolitan Planning Organization; two members of the City Council of the City and County of Honolulu; the Mayor of the County of Hawai‘i; the Mayor of the County of Kaua‘i; a member of the Kaua‘i County Council; and two members of the Maui County Council.

 

     Additional supportive testimony was submitted by Aloha Airlines; Hawaiian Airlines; United Airlines; Hawaii Superferry; Horizon Lines, LLC; Matson Navigation Company; Young Brothers, Limited; Roberts Hawaii, Inc.; the Airlines Committee of Hawaii; Airport Concessionaires Committee; Catrala-Hawaii; Greeters of Hawaii; Hawaii Transportation Association; Hawaii Harbor Users Group; Hawaii Bicycling League; and Peoples Advocacy for Trails Hawai‘i.

 

     Testimony in support was also received from The Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii; the Hawaii Government Employees Association, AFSCME Local 152, AFL-CIO; AARP Hawaii; the American Council of Engineering Companies of Hawaii; the American Society of Civil Engineers; the Coalition of Hawaii Engineering & Architectural Professionals; the Cement and Concrete Products Industry of Hawaii; the General Contractors Association of Hawaii; the Hawaii Building and Construction Trades Council, AFL-CIO; the Hawaii Operating Engineers Industry Stabilization Fund; and The Pacific Resource Partnership.

 

     Further testimony in support included Alexander & Baldwin, Inc.; AMPCO System Parking; Becker Communications, Inc.; CGI Technologies and Solutions, Inc.; Castle & Cooke Hawai‘i; DFS Group, LP; The Gas Company; Jas. W. Glover, Ltd.; Grace Pacific Corporation; HMSHost Corporation; Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum, Inc.; Ralph S. Inouye Co., Ltd.; KFC Engineering Management, Inc.; KFC Airport, Inc.; KYA Design Group, Inc.; Kapolei Property Development LLC; Kobayashi Group LLC; Lea + Elliot, Inc.; Parsons Transportation Group, Inc.; Sandwich Isles Communications, Inc.; Stanford Carr Development, LLC; Ushijima Architects, Inc.; Weyerhaeuser, Hawaii; and over twenty individuals.

 

     Brennon T. Morioka, Ph.D., P.E., is a licensed civil engineer who began his career in 1992.  During that time, he has worked on transportation-related projects for various governmental agencies, including the United States Department of Defense, the state Department of Transportation, and the City and County of Honolulu. Projects included trenchless installation of sewer, water, telecommunication, and drainage lines; telescope foundations on Mauna Kea; resort hotel grading plans and building foundations; design and management of projects to build new submarine and naval piers and bulkheads; airport runways and hangars; and numerous aspects of road construction.

 

     Mr. Morioka holds both a B.S. and M.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley; and a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from the University of Hawai‘i, where he served as a research and teaching assistant and lecturer from 1995 to 2002.  He has also published and presented numerous papers on transportation and other topics.

 

     Mr. Morioka serves as a member of the Hawaii State Earthquake Advisory Committee, the Industry Advisory Committee of the University of Hawai‘i College of Engineering, and as the Geotechnical Committee Chair of the American Society of Civil Engineers, among other professional organizations.  He was honored as the Young Engineer of the Year, State of Hawaii, in 2001, and was the U.S. Delegate to the 1st International Young Geotechnical Engineers Conference, held in the United Kingdom in 2000.

 

     Mr. Morioka joined the Department of Transportation (Department) as the Deputy Director for the Highways Division in January of 2005.  In his testimony before your Committee, Mr. Morioka stressed his satisfaction in seeing many of the Department's major highway projects come to fruition, and his commitment to the continued improvement of the State's highway system.  He also noted that while he is very comfortable with the engineering and development aspects of highway programs, he recognizes there is much to learn about airports and harbors, and he commended the Department's deputies, managers, and staff for their willingness to spend the time to "bring him up to speed".

 

     Mr. Morioka believes his experience in the private sector serves him well in government, as he tends to look at the Department's operations from a business perspective as well as that of a member of the public.  As he stated in his commitment to the importance of the Department's projects and the urgency with which they must be approached, "time is money, whether in actual monetary terms or the time we spend away from our families as we sit in traffic."

 

     Mr. Morioka responded to numerous questions and comments from Committee members, ranging from additional revenue sources for the State Highway Fund, the lapsing of past capital improvement project funds, project delivery times, roadway graffiti, and the recent rash of copper thefts that have left commuters in the dark on major highway routes.

 

     Your Committee thanked Mr. Morioka for his commitment and his ability to "build bridges" among his constituencies, as witnessed by the comments of so many testifiers on his accessibility.  Your Committee also acknowledged the momentous projects facing the Department, from the ongoing airports and harbors modernization plans to expanded options for ground transportation, and the importance of continuing the collaborative work between Mr. Morioka, the Department, and the Legislature.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Transportation and International Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee, after full consideration of the background, experience, and qualifications of the nominee, has found the nominee to be qualified for the position to which nominated and recommends that the Senate advise and consent to the nomination.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Transportation and International Affairs,

 

 

 

____________________________

J. KALANI ENGLISH, Chair