STAND. COM. REP. NO.  846

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2009

RE:   H.B. No. 281

      H.D. 3

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Fifth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2009

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Finance, to which was referred H.B. No. 281, H.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ENVIRONMENT,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to prioritize the expenditure of federal funds received by the State through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to develop the highly skilled and well-trained green collar workforce needed by Hawaii's emerging green economy sector and to implement the Emergency Environmental Workforce Program.

     The Department of Labor and Industrial Relations testified in opposition to this bill.  The Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism, Department of Land and Natural Resources, University of Hawaii (UH), Research Corporation of UH, and The Nature Conservancy offered comments.

     Your Committee has amended this bill by:

     (1)  Changing its effective date to July 1, 2020, to encourage further discussion; and

     (2)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for clarity, consistency, and style.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Finance that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 281, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 281, H.D. 3.

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

____________________________

MARCUS R. OSHIRO, Chair