STAND. COM. REP. NO. 652

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 1157

       S.D. 2

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 1157, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO STARLIGHT RESERVE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to make the temporary Starlight Reserve Advisory Committee permanent.

     The measure also makes a technical amendment to specify that the administrator, rather than the chairperson, of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs shall be a member of the advisory committee.

     Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism, Department of Transportation, Office of Hawaiian Affairs, University of Hawaii, and Starlight Reserve Committee.

     Your Committee finds that it is necessary to continue the coordinated efforts of the institutions represented on the Starlight Reserve Advisory Committee to fully develop and implement a statewide strategy to reduce nighttime light pollution, with the long-term goals of preserving Hawaii's night sky for astronomical studies, protecting endangered species, and reducing nighttime energy consumption.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by changing the effective date to July 1, 2050, to facilitate further discussion on the measure.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1157, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1157, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

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JILL N. TOKUDA, Chair