STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3010

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 2034

       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 Committees on Hawaiian Affairs and Water, Land, and Agriculture, to which was referred H.B. No. 2034, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT MAKING AN APPROPRIATION TO THE KAHO‘OLAWE ISLAND RESERVE COMMISSION,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate funds to the Kaho‘olawe Island Reserve Commission for restoration and preservation projects and to require submission of a financial self-sufficiency and sustainability plan to the Legislature.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Kaho‘olawe Island Reserve Commission, Aha Moku Advisory Committee, Island Conservation, Marine and Coastal Zone Advocacy Council Ke Kahu O Na Kumu Wai, Conservation Council for Hawaii, and twenty-six individuals.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Center for Hawaiian Sovereignty Studies.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from three individuals.

     Your Committees find that the Kaho‘olawe Island Reserve Commission is tasked with restoring the ecological damage on Kaho‘olawe and protecting its endangered and rare flora and fauna, as well as ensuring that the people of Hawaii who visit the Kaho‘olawe Island Reserve can do so meaningfully and safely.  Your Committees further find that the work of the Kaho‘olawe Island Reserve Commission is important to the State, and that funds provided by this measure will allow the Commission to continue effective management of the Kaho‘olawe Island Reserve.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

     (1)  Inserting an appropriation amount of $600,000;

     (2)  Changing the effective date to July 1, 2016; and

     (3)  Making a technical, nonsubstantive amendment for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Hawaiian Affairs and Water, Land, and Agriculture that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2034, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2034, 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 Committees on Hawaiian Affairs and Water, Land, and Agriculture,

________________________________ MIKE GABBARD, Chair

________________________________ MAILE S.L. SHIMABUKURO, Chair