STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3390

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.R. No. 133

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 Transportation and Energy, to which was referred S.R. No. 133 entitled:

"SENATE RESOLUTION REQUESTING THAT THE DEPARTMENT OF ACCOUNTING AND GENERAL SERVICES, THE DEPARTMENT OF BUDGET AND FISCAL SERVICES OF THE CITY AND COUNTY OF HONOLULU, AND THE DEPARTMENTS OF FINANCE OF THE COUNTIES OF HAWAII, MAUI, AND KAUAI ELIMINATE THE PAYROLL LAG FOR ALL EMPLOYEES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to request the State and counties to eliminate the payroll lag for all employees.

Prior to the hearing on this measure, your Committee posted and made available for public review a proposed S.D. 1, which amends this measure by:

(1) Deleting its contents;

(2) Inserting language urging the Office of Homeland Security and Office of Planning to form a Critical Infrastructure and Resiliency Council; and

(3) Amending the title accordingly to read, "URGING THE OFFICE OF HOMELAND SECURITY AND OFFICE OF PLANNING TO FORM A CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE AND RESILIENCY COUNCIL, WITH CONSULTATION FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, AND TOURISM,".

Your Committee received testimony in support of the proposed S.D. 1 from the Office of Homeland Security and Hawaiian Electric Company. Your Committee received comments on the proposed S.D. 1 from the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism; Office of Planning; and Young Brothers.

Your Committee finds that the isolated nature of Hawaii makes it vulnerable to natural disasters. Therefore, enhancing the State's grid resiliency to maintain critical infrastructure operations is vital to the State's ability to recover quickly after a natural disaster. Formalizing a resiliency policy that sets clear goals to minimize the severity of damage and enable fast recovery of normal grid and critical infrastructure operations allows the State to outline how it plans to strengthen its ability to respond to natural disasters.

However, your Committee finds that it would be irresponsible for the State to set goals and invest in projects without a thorough assessment of the State's electrical grid and other critical infrastructure sector, as well as the financial resources available to encourage development of the State's grid and critical infrastructure. Thus, to complement a resiliency policy, your Committee believes a Critical Infrastructure and Resiliency Council, composed of emergency management and infrastructure experts, is necessary to establish strategies, goals, priorities, and recommendations to enhance the resiliency of the State's grid and assess the capacity and availability of existing resources.

Your Committee heard testimony suggesting that interisland transport services are critical to disaster recovery efforts.

Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by adopting the proposed S.D. 1 and further amending the measure by encouraging the Council to also invite regulated interisland water carriers serving all islands.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Transportation and Energy that is attached to this report, your Committee concurs with the intent and purpose of S.R. No. 133, as amended herein, and recommends its adoption in the form attached hereto as S.R. No. 133, S.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Transportation and Energy,

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LORRAINE R. INOUYE, Chair