STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3035

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 2692

       H.D. 1

       S.D. 1

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fifth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2010

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred H.B. No. 2692, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO DISASTER PREPAREDNESS PLANNING,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to require the Director of Civil Defense to prepare a disaster preparedness plan for the forty-fourth and forty-fifth House of Representatives districts on the leeward coast of Oahu.

This measure also requires the Director of Civil Defense to report the Director's findings and recommendations, including costs, to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the 2011 Regular Session.

     The written comments received by your Committee may be reviewed on the Legislature's website.

     Your Committee finds that the leeward coast of Oahu is only accessible by way of Farrington Highway.  When the highway is closed due to traffic accidents or other incidents, the lives of tens of thousands of Oahu residents are disrupted.  Your Committee finds that a major disaster that closes Farrington Highway for an extended period of time, would create a multitude of problems, severely impacting the health, safety, and welfare of several leeward communities.  Further, your Committee finds that for these reasons, the development of a disaster preparedness plan is especially important to communities in the forty-fourth and forty-fifth House of Representatives Districts and will serve as a valuable model in the future expansion of the disaster preparedness plan for the State.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Clarifying that the Director of Civil Defense is required to work with county civil defense agencies to prepare the disaster preparedness plan;

     (2)  Changing the effective date to July 1, 2055, to facilitate further discussion on this measure; and

     (3)  Making technical nonsubstantive amendments for purposes of clarity and style.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2692, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2692, H.D. 1, S.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

____________________________

DONNA MERCADO KIM, Chair