STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3395

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.C.R. No. 36

       S.D. 2

Honorable Shan S. Tsutsui

President of the Senate

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2012

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.C.R. No. 36, S.D. 1, entitled:

"SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION REQUESTING DEVELOPMENT OF A PLAN TO EXAMINE THE LONG-TERM USES OF THE HAWAII FILM STUDIO DIAMOND HEAD CAMPUS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to request the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism, with the cooperation of the University of Hawaii, Kapiolani Community College, and the Hawaii Tourism Authority, to develop a plan to examine the long-term uses of the Hawaii Film Studio Diamond Head campus.

     More specifically, the measure requests the Department to:

     (1)  Examine the following options:

          (A)  Transitioning the use of the facility to provide administrative support for the operations of Hawaii's film and digital media programs if increased production facility infrastructure is developed elsewhere on Oahu;

          (B)  Having the facility serve as a training and laboratory facility in conjunction with expanded film and digital media educational programs; or

          (C)  Continuing the current use as a film and television production facility;

     (2)  Consider the impacts of continued production activity or proposed alternative uses on adjacent neighborhoods;

     (3)  Solicit community input from residents in nearby residential communities such as Kahala, Diamond Head, Kaimuki, and Kapahulu; neighborhood boards; and Diamond Head State Monument administrators;

     (4)  Examine the feasibility of expanding the Hawaii Film Studio Diamond Head campus to accommodate increased production activity, taking into consideration previous studies and reports that have identified challenges such as the limited production footprint of the studio's Diamond Head campus, as well as sensitivities of the surrounding community and Diamond Head State Monument; and

     (5)  Submit the plan to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2013.

     Written comments in support of this measure were submitted by the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism.

     Your Committee finds that the Hawaii Film Studio was established as part of an effort to provide greater incentive for film and television productions to film in Hawaii.  Your Committee notes that more than twenty major motion pictures and television productions have utilized the Hawaii Film Studio.  However, further expansion of the film and television production industry is hampered by an acute lack of studio space statewide.

     Your Committee further finds that, since 1986, the Legislature has approved more than $17,000,000 to develop the Hawaii Film Studio campus, resulting in a state-of-the-art soundstage, new production offices, set construction facilities, and other improvements.  In order to protect the State's significant investment in the facility to date, the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism is seeking $3,450,000 in capital improvements for repairs, general maintenance, and basic improvements at the Hawaii Film Studio in the State's fiscal year 2013 supplemental budget.  Your Committee believes that the plan requested by this measure is necessary to determine how the Hawaii Film Studio Diamond Head campus may be best utilized in the long term.

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

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee concurs with the intent and purpose of S.C.R. No. 36, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends its adoption in the form attached hereto as S.C.R. No. 36, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

____________________________

DAVID Y. IGE, Chair