STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2896

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.C.R. No. 57

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2008

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Education, to which was referred S.C.R. No. 57 entitled:

"SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION REQUESTING THAT PAHOA HIGH AND INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL DEDICATE ITS GYMNASIUM IN HONOR OF FORMER REPRESENTATIVE HELENE H. HALE, BY CHANGING THE NAME OF THE GYMNASIUM TO "HELENE H. HALE GYMNASIUM,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to request that Pahoa High and Intermediate school dedicate and rename its gymnasium in honor of Representative Helene H. Hale.

     Testimony in support of the measure was submitted by the Hawai‘i County Council, the Ka‘u/Kea‘au/Pahoa Complex Area, and four individuals.

     Your Committee finds that former Hawaii State Representative Helene H. Hale is widely admired as a strong advocate for improved mental health care, sustainable development, and world peace.  She was the first African-American elected to office in Hawaii and the first woman to hold an executive position in local government since Queen Liliuokalani.  Representative Hale served as a delegate to the 1978 Constitutional Convention, between 1980 and 1994, served a total of ten years on the Hawaii County Council, and in 2000 won election to the State House of Representatives where she served as the Chair of the Committee on International Affairs.  Her accomplishments are many and varied, and she has left an enduring legacy of her commitment to the people of Hawaii, particularly the Big Island, including through assisting in the establishment of the Merrie Monarch Festival.  Your Committee determines that the dedication and renaming of the gymnasium at Pahoa High and Intermediate School in her honor is a fitting tribute to her years of dedicated service and commitment to the State of Hawaii.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Education that is attached to this report, your Committee concurs with the intent and purpose of S.C.R. No. 57 and recommends its adoption.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Education,

____________________________

NORMAN SAKAMOTO, Chair