STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2316

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2469

       S.D. 1

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2008

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committees on Agriculture and Hawaiian Affairs and Education, to which was referred S.B. No. 2469 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to establish a master of arts program in cultural resource management at the University of Hawaii, Hilo in concert with related courses or programs at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and Hawaii community colleges.

     Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the Society for Hawaiian Archaeology and five individuals.  The University of Hawaii submitted testimony in support of the intent of this measure.

     Your Committees find that federal and state agencies and private companies face a constant need for professionals trained in cultural resource management in the disciplines of archaeology and anthropology.  Trained professionals in these fields are necessary to ensure rigorous, timely, and professionally reviewed compliance submissions for federal and state legislation, such as the National Native American Graves Protection Act of 1990 and chapter 6E, Hawaii Revised Statutes, establishing burial councils, as well as all aspects of the State Historic Preservation Division of the Department of Land And Natural Resources and related federal and state laws and agencies.

     In Hawaii, the potential and demonstrated adverse effects to cultural resources are evident in many current project initiatives that could have a potentially adverse impact on cultural and environmental resources, economic stability, and community well‑being.  These initiatives, if not handled with the support of trained professionals and consultation with appropriate community cultural leaders, have the potential to cause heightened levels of concern, mistrust, expensive and time-consuming litigation, and an overall sense of loss.

     The State of Hawaii has limited opportunity to train cultural resource management professionals at the graduate level to work with community leaders to assist federal, state, county, or private entities in cooperating with the local community in the cultural resource management process so vital to preserving cultural integrity.  Establishing localized training in cultural resource management is essential to training a cadre of effective and qualified professionals who would form meaningful partnerships with educational institutions and indigenous cultures in the preservation of the nation's cultural heritage.  Hawaii has made clear its commitment to such preservation, and it is essential to restore leadership to Hawaii's academic, cultural, and conservation resources.

     Your Committees further find that the lack of trained professionals is demonstrated in the critical understaffing of the State of Hawaii Historic Preservation Office of the Department of Land and Natural Resources, as well as critical backlogs of more than two hundred fifty reports and reviews required to advance State and federal capital improvement projects at many levels.  There are also critical shortages of trained staff for the twenty‑four permitted cultural resource management firms working in the State, which require that principal investigators possess a graduate degree from an accredited institution in archaeology, anthropology or an equivalent field.  Other planning, architectural, engineering, and communications firms report a critical need for trained and knowledgeable professionals to assist in this important work.  There are further shortages in United States-affiliated Pacific islands, the territories of Guam and American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and the Freely Associated States.  The Polynesian nations that share Hawaii's cultural heritage also are woefully short of qualified cultural resource management programs.

     Your Committees also find that there is no better place to grow Hawaii's own talent than the University of Hawaii at Hilo's "living laboratories" in anthropology, geology, archaeology, astronomy, natural and environmental science, biology, and the first national doctoral program in a native language through Ka Haka Ula o Ke‘elikolani, the college of Hawaiian language.  There are numerous locations and partnerships that can be developed to support the concept of the "living laboratory", such as that as practiced by the Army Environmental Center at Pohakuloa, which is staffed by more than thirty-five professional experts in archaeology, anthropology, biology, out planting, endangered species management, conservation, ungulate and invasive species management practices, and other real-world conservation skills practiced on adjacent lands managed by the Department of Land and Natural Resources at Mauna Kea State Park, and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs at the historic Humuula Sheep Station and historic paniolo Keanakolu Trail and Mana Road.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and style.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Agriculture and Hawaiian Affairs and Education that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2469, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2469, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Agriculture and Hawaiian Affairs and Education,

____________________________ NORMAN SAKAMOTO, Chair

____________________________ JILL TOKUDA, Chair