STAND. COM. REP. NO 340

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 438

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 438 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE BUDGET OF THE OFFICE OF HAWAIIAN AFFAIRS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate funds for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs for the 2015-2017 biennial budget.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Ko‘olaupoko Hawaiian Civic Club, and four individuals.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Center for Hawaiian Sovereignty Studies.

     Your Committee recognizes the importance of funding the programs of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, which provide assistance to all Native Hawaiians, regardless of blood quantum.  Your Committee commends the Office of Hawaiian Affairs for its fiscal and investment practices, which have resulted in the current levels of its trust corpus; however, your Committee requests that the Office of Hawaiian Affairs consider its policies regarding the amount of the corpus used to fund programs, especially in times where the corpus is at healthy financial levels.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 438 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Hawaiian Affairs,

____________________________

MAILE S.L. SHIMABUKURO, Chair