STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2361

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2944

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. 2944 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EDUCATIONAL RETREATS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to authorize counties to issue permits for educational retreats to benefit local residents and provide various instructional programs, including programs related to nature, culture, wellness, and sustainable living.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from Kalani Honua, Kalani Oceanside Retreat, and three individuals.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Agriculture.

     Your Committee finds that educational retreats that provide various instructional programs help communities by increasing food production and building sustainable rural economies.  These educational retreats provide for a community's needs for energy, employment opportunities, education, recreation, safety, supplies, and services.  Accordingly, this measure expands and furthers educational retreat properties, programs, and facilities by creating the Kupuna Retreat Education Act for Teaching Ecology and providing counties with the authority to issue educational retreat permits.

     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. 2944 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Labor.

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

____________________________

WILL ESPERO, Chair