STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2958

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 1736

       H.D. 1

       S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2016

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Transportation and Energy, to which was referred H.B. No. 1736, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE KONA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to rename the Kona International Airport as the Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport. 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Transportation and one individual.

     Ellison Onizuka, the first Japanese American selected to participate in America’s space program and the first Asian astronaut to venture into space, was born on the Island of Hawaii.  Your Committee finds that the State should memorialize the accomplishments of Ellison Onizuka, best known as Hawaii's first astronaut.  Ellison Onizuka also served in the United States Air Force where he used his education in aerospace engineering to participate in flight test programs and systems safety engineering for numerous aircraft before ultimately being selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in January 1978.

     Tragically, Ellison Onizuka, along with six other individuals, perished when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded shortly after lift-off on January 28, 1986, from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida.  Renaming the Kona International Airport the Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport is a fitting tribute that will serve to honor the memory and legacy of a beloved and treasured keiki o ka aina.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by inserting an effective date of July 1, 2018, to allow the Department of Transportation sufficient time to change signage at the airport.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Transportation and Energy that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1736, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1736, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Transportation and Energy,

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LORRAINE R. INOUYE, Chair