STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3140

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 2037

       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 Water, Land, and Agriculture and Tourism and International Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 2037, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE WORLD CONSERVATION CONGRESS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate funds for hosting the 2016 International Union for Conservation of Nature World Conservation Congress meeting at the Hawaii Convention Center from September 1 to 10, 2016.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources, Aha Moku Advisory Committee, Humane Society of the United States, The Nature Conservancy, Ulupono Initiative, Outrigger Enterprises Group, and four individuals.

     Your Committees find that the International Union for Conservation of Nature is a leading authority on the environment and sustainable development.  The World Conservation Congress consists of more than one thousand two hundred member organizations including over two hundred governments, nine hundred non-government organizations, and eighty-five member organizations in the United States.  In September of 2016, more than eight thousand delegates from over one hundred sixty countries are expected to attend the World Conservation Congress meeting at the Hawaii Convention Center.

     Your Committees further find that the World Conservation Congress meeting provides the State a unique opportunity to highlight its progress toward the sustainability and clean energy goals of the Aloha+ Challenge and its efforts to mitigate the impact of invasive species, as well as to recognize the efforts of Hawaii's private sector, particularly organizations like the Blue Planet Foundation, who advocate for clean energy and convene industry decision makers, policy experts, and community leaders to collaborate on forward-thinking solutions that enable clean energy transformation.  In addition, having financial support from the community that will follow the leadership and initiative of entities, like the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Hau‘oli Mau Loa Foundation, and Harold K.L. Castle Foundation, which have already provided sizeable monetary contributions that will support Hawaii's hosting of the meeting and enable the State to highlight Hawaii's environmental and natural resources; support Hawaii's economy, environment, and quality of life; and generate economic benefits including visitor spending, tax revenues, potential federal and international grant funding, and research opportunities.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

     (1)  Inserting a purpose section;

     (2)  Requiring matching private funds, in a blank proportional amount, in order for the general funds to be expended; and

     (3)  Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2016.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Water, Land, and Agriculture and Tourism and International Affairs that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2037, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2037, 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 Water, Land, and Agriculture and Tourism and International Affairs,

________________________________ J. KALANI ENGLISH, Majority Leader

________________________________ MIKE GABBARD, Chair