STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2362

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2597

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2014

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 2597 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT MAKING AN APPROPRIATION FOR A WAR MEMORIAL,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate funds for the planning, design, and construction of a memorial honoring the veterans of the Persian Gulf War, Operation Desert Storm, Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation New Dawn, Global War on Terrorism, Homeland Defense, and Operation Noble Eagle, and those who have protected our borders by land, sea, and air and replicas on each neighbor island.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Defense State Civil Defense Division; State Office of Veterans Services; MOAA Hawaii Chapter; Military Officers Association of America, Hawaii Chapter; and four individuals.

     Your Committee finds that the Legislature enacted Act 139, Session Laws of Hawaii 2013, directing the development of a plan to establish a war memorial.  Consequently, the Gulf War Memorial task force collected data and proposed site selection for the memorial.  Accordingly, this measure appropriates the funds to build and establish a memorial and replica memorials on each neighbor island, as recommended by the Gulf War Memorial task force.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2597 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

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

____________________________

WILL ESPERO, Chair