STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2526

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2713

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Labor, Culture and the Arts, to which was referred S.B. No. 2713 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS FOR THE STATE ARCHIVES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to allow the Director of Finance to issue general obligation bonds in the sum of $1,000,000 to provide funding for the development of a Master Plan to address the current and future facilities needs of the State Archives.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Accounting and General Services and one individual.

Your Committee finds that the State Archives, an entity responsible for collecting, arranging, describing, and making accessible the public archives of the State, is an irreplaceable part of Hawaii's legacy, history, culture, and identity. According to the Department of Accounting and General Services, the State Archives facility, which was designed seventy years ago, is severely outdated in both form and function to address the digital age that the State now operates in. The facility is currently at ninety-eight percent of its approximately 14,000 cubic feet of storage-capacity and is projected to reach full capacity in the next biennium. The facility's space constraints are severely impinging upon the State Archive's ability to accommodate patrons conducting archival research; display the historical artifacts it holds in the public trust; conduct proper archival processing and conservation of the materials; collect the archives of the many diverse subgroups within the various communities of Hawaii that have added to our shared history and culture; and engage more volunteers to assist staff, thereby reducing the number of possible records that could be made available to the public.

Your Committee further finds that the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, which greatly disrupted the public's ability to travel and access the State Archive records in person, highlighted the need to post more of the records online to be accessible to people around the world, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. However, the State Archive's current facility is incapable of providing the digitization infrastructure necessary for such large-scale access.

This measure appropriates funds for the development of a State Archives Master Plan, including the expansion and creation of new collections processing and storage, administrative, public research, exhibition, and community engagement spaces, that will enable the people of Hawaii to further connect with their documentary heritage.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Labor, Culture and the Arts that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2713 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Labor, Culture and the Arts,

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BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair