STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1496-18

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2018

RE: S.B. No. 2896

S.D. 1

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 S.B. No. 2896, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE 150TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FIRST ARRIVAL OF JAPANESE EMIGRANTS TO HAWAII,"

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 as a grant to the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii for the purposes of funding the presentation and coordination of events and programs for the 2018 Gannenmono celebration.

The Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, Historic Hawai‘i Foundation, and Oahu County Committee on Legislative Priorities of the Democratic Party of Hawai‘i testified in support of this measure.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Changing the funding mechanism for events and programs for the 2018 Gannenmono celebration from a grant to the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii and instead making an emergency appropriation of $150,000 to the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism for this purpose;

(2) Changing its effective date to June 15, 1215, 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 S.B. No. 2896, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2896, S.D. 1, 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