STAND. COM. REP. NO. 512-18

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2018

RE: H.B. No. 2455

H.D. 1

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2018

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Veterans, Military, & International Affairs, & Culture and the Arts, to which was referred H.B. No. 2455 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT MAKING AN APPROPRIATION TO THE DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, AND TOURISM FOR THE 2018 GANNENMONO CELEBRATION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to celebrate the one-hundred fiftieth anniversary of the arrival of the first group of organized Japanese immigrants in Hawaii, known as Gannenmono, by appropriating funds to the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism for the 2018 Gannenmono celebration.

The Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, Kizuna Hawaii, Gannenmono Celebration Committee, and Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii testified in support of this measure.

Your Committee finds that the celebration of the arrival of the first group of organized Japanese immigrants to Hawaii is an auspicious occasion that will be celebrated not only by Japanese-American citizens in Hawaii but by numerous Japanese communities throughout the world intending to come to Hawaii for the celebration. While your Committee notes that this measure calls for an appropriation of $150,000 for these celebrations, your Committee finds that the scope of the celebrations will encompass each island of the State and therefore respectfully requests that the Committee on Finance consider increasing the appropriation and specifying that funds be allocated for celebrations on each island of the State.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Inserting language specifying that this measure is for an emergency appropriation in accordance with section 9 of article VII of the Constitution of the State of Hawaii;

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

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

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Veterans, Military, & International Affairs, & Culture and the Arts that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2455, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2455, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Finance.

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

____________________________

MATTHEW S. LOPRESTI, Chair