STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2170

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2391

       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 Water, Land, Agriculture, and Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 2391 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO STATE FINANCES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to amend the operating budget of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands for fiscal years 2009-2010 and 2010-2011.

     Testimony in support of the measure was submitted by two organizations and thirteen individuals.  Three state agencies support the intent of the measure, and one individual submitted testimony in opposition.  Written testimony presented to the Committee may be reviewed on the Legislature's website.

     This measure was introduced by Senators Colleen Hanabusa, Senate President; Donna Mercado Kim, the Chair of the Senate Ways and Means Committee; and your Committee Chair.  On April 30, 2009, the House and Senate Conference Committee on H.B. No. 900 S.D. 1 in 2009, the budget of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, members voted in favor of inclusion of these budgetary items with Senators Clayton Hee and Donna Mercado Kim, and Representatives Mele Carroll, Marcus Oshiro, and Gene Ward supporting the budgetary inclusion.  Senator Fred Hemmings was the only member who voted no.  This measure represents the budget provisos that were publicly voted upon on April 30, 2009, in open budget session by the Conference Committee members, but were inadvertently deleted from the final budget document.  As a result of the inadvertent omission of these items, Senators Colleen Hanabusa, Senate President; Donna Mercado Kim, the Chair of the Senate Ways and Means Committee; and your Committee Chair co-introduced this measure to rectify the omission and to include the legislation in the 2010 budget.

     Your Committee finds that this measure restores the budget to reflect the agreement reached in the 2009 Conference Committee.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purpose of clarity.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Water, Land, Agriculture, and Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2391, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2391, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Water, Land, Agriculture, and Hawaiian Affairs,

____________________________

CLAYTON HEE, Chair