STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1319

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    GOV. MSG. NOS. 692, 693

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2013

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Water and Land, to which was referred Governor's Message Nos. 692 and 693, submitting for study and consideration the nominations of: 

Kaho'olawe Island Reserve Commission

G.M. No. 692	CHRISTOPHER BAKER, for a term to expire 6-30-2017; and
G.M. No. 693	AMBER WHITEHEAD, for a term to expire 6-30-2016,

begs leave to report as follows:

     Your Committee has reviewed the personal histories, resumes, and statements submitted by the nominees and finds Christopher Baker and Amber Whitehead to possess the requisite qualifications to be nominated to the Kaho‘olawe Island Reserve Commission.

CHRISTOPHER BAKER

     Your Committee received testimony in support of the nomination of Christopher Baker from the Kaho‘olawe Island Reserve Commission, Protect Kaho‘olawe ‘Ohana, Hawai‘i Inuiakea School of Hawaiian Knowledge at the University of Hawaii, and twenty-two individuals.

     Christopher Baker is a Doctorate of Philosophy candidate in Linguistics at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa.  He received a Masters of Arts degree in linguistics from the University of Hawaii at Manoa and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Hawaiian Language from the University of Hawaii at Manoa.  He has been teaching Hawaiian language courses at the University of Hawaii at Manoa since 1996.

     As noted in testimony, Mr. Baker brings to the Commission expertise in Hawaiian language and cultural traditions, as he is a noted Hawaiian language playwright and lead cultural practitioner for the makahiki ceremony on Kaho‘olawe.

AMBER WHITEHEAD

     Your Committee received testimony in support of the nomination of Amber Whitehead from the Kaho‘olawe

Island Reserve Commission, Protect Kaho‘olawe ‘Ohana, and twenty-one individuals.

     Amber Whitehead will receive a Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of Hawaii at Manoa Botany Department with a specialization in Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology.  She received Bachelor of Arts degrees in Botany and Hawaiian Studies from the University of Hawaii at Manoa.  Ms. Whitehead received an Environmental Protection Agency Graduate Fellowship as well as a Native Hawaiian Leadership Project Scholarship and worked with the Environmental Protection Agency's Greater Research Opportunities Program from 2003 to 2005.  From 2004 to the present, she has worked as an Ecologist with the Kamehameha Schools, Land Assets Division.

     Your Committee notes the following excerpt from the nominee's personal statement, "I have always had a strong passion and love for land, water, native species, and native ecosystems.  I was born and raised in Pāpā, South Kona to a family with a long history of living close to the land.  We subsist till today on rainwater caught from the sky, raise much of our own food, and value our intimate relationship with and knowledge of the biological resources, landforms, and weather patterns of our home."

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committee on Water and Land that are attached to this report, your Committee, after full consideration of the background, experience, and qualifications of the nominees, has found the nominees to be qualified for the positions to which nominated and recommends that the Senate advise and consent to the nominations.

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

____________________________

MALAMA SOLOMON, Chair