STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2524

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2921

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 Education, to which was referred S.B. No. 2921 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO STATE LIBRARY SYSTEM,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to require any money $10 or under collected by the unclaimed property program and net proceeds $10 or under from the sale of unclaimed property held in state custody for over five years to be deposited into the libraries special fund.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii State Public Library System and two individuals. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Budget and Finance.

Your Committee finds that Hawaii's public libraries offer many public benefits, including acting as community gathering places where learning happens and knowledge is shared. Many members of the public, including children and kupuna, rely on the public library system. This measure provides an opportunity to increase support to the Hawaii State Public Library System for the increasing demands of library patrons for library books and materials.

Your Committee has amended this measure by deleting section 2 and inserting language that:

(1) Increases the threshold for claims made for funds in the unclaimed property trust fund from $100 to $250;

(2) Specifies that unclaimed funds of $10 or less in the unclaimed property trust fund, upon the expiration of a ten-year time limitation, shall escheat to the State and be transferred to the libraries special fund;

(3) Specifies that unclaimed funds of more than $10 but less than $250 in the unclaimed property trust fund, upon expiration of the ten-year time limitation, shall escheat to the State and be transferred to the general fund; and

(4) Makes a technical, nonsubstantive amendment for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Education that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2921, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2921, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Education,

________________________________

MICHELLE N. KIDANI, Chair