STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3057

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2479

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 2479 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO BROADBAND INFRASTRUCTURE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to require that each public housing project, dwelling unit, or state low-income housing project built, renovated, or reconstructed after January 1, 2023, include all broadband infrastructure necessary for tenants to access broadband service.

Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism; State Council on Developmental Disabilities; AARP Hawaii; Common Cause Hawaii; League of Women Voters of Hawaii; and one individual.

Your Committee finds that this measure will allow residents in Hawaii public housing units to conveniently access the Internet and receive those critical services, including health care and education, that have increasingly become internet-based.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2479 and recommends that it pass Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

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DONOVAN M. DELA CRUZ, Chair