STAND. COM. REP. NO. 285

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 508

       S.D. 1

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fifth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2009

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committees on Higher Education and Economic Development and Technology, to which was referred S.B. No. 508 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ARCHAEOLOGY,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to support and appropriate funds for the applied archaeology graduate program at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa.

     Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the Department of Land and Natural Resources, Historic Hawai‘i Foundation, Kamehameha Schools, and twelve individuals.  Copies of written testimony are available for review on the Legislature's website.

     Your Committees find that in 2007, the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa initiated the applied archaeology program to train students in understanding and meeting the unique challenges of historic preservation in Hawai‘i.  The program was designed to help students and working professionals throughout the State and in its second year, is receiving a sharply increased number of applications from local students.  This measure would expand the program and assist in addressing what has become a critical shortage of archaeologists – both in government and the private sector – with an understanding of the complex cultural, historic, and practical aspects of historic preservation in Hawai‘i.

Your Committees are strongly supportive of the initiatives in this measure, particular the increased emphasis on distance learning for those students on Neighbor Islands.  In addition, your Committees believe that the community workshops in this measure are vital in building on and continuing past collaborative efforts of the State's historic preservation professionals.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by making technical amendments to correct a drafting error.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Higher Education and Economic Development and Technology that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 508, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 508, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Higher Education and Economic Development and Technology,

____________________________ CAROL FUKUNAGA, Chair

____________________________ JILL TOKUDA, Chair