STAND. COM. REP. NO. 732-18

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2018

RE: H.B. No. 2196

H.D. 1

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2018

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Veterans, Military, & International Affairs, & Culture and the Arts and Public Safety, to which was referred H.B. No. 2196 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO DISASTER PREPAREDNESS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to increase public safety, particularly during the adverse weather conditions of a category four hurricane by:

(1) Requiring the Department of Education to establish a pilot program to retrofit specified buildings to meet or exceed various building codes established for enabling a building to withstand the weather conditions of a category four hurricane; and

(2) Authorizing the issuance of general obligation bonds for the retrofitting of the specified Department of Education buildings.

The Oahu County Committee on Legislative Priorities of the Democratic Party of Hawaii and Ho'omana Pono, LLC testified in support of this measure. The Department of Education and Hawaii Emergency Management Agency testified in support of the intent of this measure.

Your Committees understand that it may be cost prohibitive to retrofit buildings on campuses statewide to withstand the weather conditions of Category 3 or Category 4 hurricanes so that they may be used as shelters in the event of a coming disaster. However, actual costs are not fully known as there are a number of variables to be considered in determining whether a building can be retrofitted to withstand such weather conditions. Accordingly, your Committees have requested that the Department of Education work with the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency to develop rough cost estimates for the retrofitting of schools to withstand the weather conditions of a Category 3 hurricane and submit these cost estimates to the Committee on Finance should it deliberate on this measure further.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Specifying that the Department of Education work in collaboration with the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency to establish the pilot program;

(2) Deleting the mandate to retrofit buildings at five specific schools and instead tasking the Department of Education, in collaboration with the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency, with selecting one school in each of the four largest counties for retrofitting of buildings as disaster shelters;

(3) Lowering the category of the hurricane weather conditions that a building must be able to withstand from Category 4 to Category 3;

(4) Specifying that additional structural assessments of the buildings selected in (2) above be made in accordance with the Report of Recommended Statewide Public Hurricane Shelter Criteria, Hurricane Shelter Criteria Committee, State Civil Defense, June 24, 2014;

(5) Requiring the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency to determine any sources of federal funding that may be obtained to assist with retrofitting selected buildings to withstand the conditions of a Category 3 hurricane;

(6) Changing its effective date to December 23, 2083, to facilitate further discussion; and

(7) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for clarity, consistency, and style.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Veterans, Military, & International Affairs, & Culture and the Arts and Public Safety that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2196, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2196, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Finance.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Veterans, Military, & International Affairs, & Culture and the Arts and Public Safety,

____________________________ GREGG TAKAYAMA, Chair

____________________________ MATTHEW S. LOPRESTI, Chair