STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2316

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 2678

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2018

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Economic Development, Tourism, and Technology, to which was referred S.B. No. 2678 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to codify the State's commitment to conservation and sustainability by including goal seventeen, strengthening implementation, of the seventeen United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and indicators, with references to existing state sustainability programs, if applicable, in the Hawaii Revised Statutes.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Agriculture, Airports Concessionaries Committee, and Oahu County Committee on Legislative Priorities of the Democratic Party of Hawaii.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Office of Planning.

 

     Your Committee finds that Hawaii has been a leader in conservation efforts for decades, through its commitment to environmental and sustainability policies, and that a priority of the Senate for the Regular Session of 2018 is to adopt the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals at the state level.  The seventeen Sustainable Development Goals are a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity.  This measure codifies Sustainable Development Goal seventeen, strengthening implementation, into state law.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Codifying Sustainable Development Goal seventeen into chapter 226, Hawaii Revised Statutes, instead of chapter 344, Hawaii Revised Statutes;

 

     (2)  Inserting language to additionally codify the State of Hawaii's 2050 Sustainability Plan goals, which were established in 2008 to express the sustainable future of Hawaii; and

 

     (3)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Economic Development, Tourism, and Technology that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2678, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2678, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Economic Development, Tourism, and Technology,

 

 

 

________________________________

GLENN WAKAI, Chair