STAND. COM. REP. NO.  865-12

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2012

RE:   H.B. No. 2250

      H.D. 2

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2012

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Finance, to which was referred H.B. No. 2250, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE EMERGENCY ENVIRONMENTAL WORKFORCE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to establish and appropriate funds for an emergency environmental workforce to provide short-term employment for individuals who are unemployed or underemployed due to the slow economic recovery so as to assist the State's efforts to protect watersheds and eradicate invasive species.

An individual supported this measure.  The Department of Land and Natural Resources, The Trust for Public Land's Hawaiian Islands Program, The Nature Conservancy of Hawaii, the Kohala Watershed Partnership, the Hawaiian Island Land Trust, and an individual opposed this measure.  The Commission on Water Resource Management of the Department of Land and Natural Resources; the Department of Agriculture; the Research Corporation of the University of Hawaii; the Coordinating Group on Alien Pest Species; the Oahu Invasive Species Committee; the Maui Invasive Species Committee; the Sierra Club Hawaii Chapter; Alexander & Baldwin, Inc; and an individual commented on this measure.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Deleting the amounts appropriated for the emergency environmental workforce;

     (2)  Changing the effective date to July 1, 2030, for the purpose of facilitating further discussion; and

     (3)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of 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. 2250, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2250, H.D. 2.

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

____________________________

MARCUS R. OSHIRO, Chair