STAND. COM. REP. NO. 813

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 318

       H.D. 2

       S.D. 1

Honorable Shan S. Tsutsui

President of the Senate

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2011

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Public Safety, Government Operations, and Military Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 318, H.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO VOG,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to establish within the Civil Defense Agency of the County of Hawaii, the County of Hawaii Interagency Task Force on vog to:

(1)  Review the effects and impact of vog on human health, school children, agriculture, farm and ranch animals, public infrastructure, the visitor industry, and any other issue the Task Force deems necessary; and

(2)  Make recommendations to the Legislature on addressing any issue the Task Force determines is feasible to address. 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the State Department of Defense.

     Your Committee finds that this measure is critical to addressing the effects and impact of vog in the County of Hawaii.  The Task Force will work in conjunction with the State Interagency Task Force on Sulfur Dioxide Hazards, which was established in June 2008, to recommend measures and strategies to mitigate the effects of vog.  This measure is particularly apropos at this time with the recent surge in volcanic activity combined with lingering drought conditions.

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

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Public Safety, Government Operations, and Military Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 318, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 318, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Public Safety, Government Operations, and Military Affairs,

____________________________

WILL ESPERO, Chair