STAND. COM. REP. NO. 109

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 732

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2023

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 732 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO STATE HOLIDAYS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to designate the second Monday in October of each year as Indigenous Peoples' Day and establish Indigenous Peoples' Day as a state holiday.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from The Volcano School of Arts & Sciences, a Community Public Charter School; and nineteen individuals. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from one individual. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Office of Collective Bargaining, Department of Budget and Finance, and Department of Human Resources of the City and County of Honolulu.

Your Committee finds that indigenous peoples, including Native Hawaiians, have thrived and remained resilient for generations, contributing to the world their rich histories, knowledge, and cultural practices. Indigenous Peoples' Day was first proposed by indigenous groups at a 1977 United Nations conference to counteract discrimination and correct the narrative that Christopher Columbus discovered the Americas, which had been inhabited for millennia by over six hundred indigenous nations. The second Monday in October, formerly named after Christopher Columbus, was chosen to recognize the contributions of indigenous peoples and their inherent sovereignty.

Your Committee further finds that, similar to the indigenous peoples of the Americas, the arrival of Captain James Cook to the islands in 1778 forever changed the indigenous Native Hawaiian people. Western missionaries introduced new infectious diseases that decimated the Native Hawaiian population by eighty-four percent within just sixty years. Further, western missionaries prohibited many traditional Hawaiian cultural practices, including hula and olelo Hawaii.

Your Committee finds that presently, Hawaii is one of seventeen states that does not celebrate Columbus Day, and instead observes Discoverers' Day on the second Monday in October "in recognition of the Polynesian discoverers of the Hawaiian islands." While Discoverers' Day acknowledges the ancestors of Native Hawaiians and other indigenous Polynesians who discovered Hawaii, recognizing and designating Indigenous Peoples' Day as a state holiday will serve as a day to educate Hawaii's people about the State's obligation to the original inhabitants of Hawaii and to celebrate their cultural practices. Therefore, this measure will designate the second Monday in October of each year as Indigenous Peoples' Day and establish Indigenous Peoples' Day as a state holiday.

Your Committee has heard testimony from the Office of Collective Bargaining expressing concerns that while the establishment of a holiday remains in the purview of the Legislature, the holiday's impact on public employees is still a negotiable matter, subject to collective bargaining. Your Committee also heard testimony from the Department of Budget and Finance estimating that the addition of a new state holiday would cost approximately $17,000,000 in lost productivity.

Therefore, your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Repealing the designation of election days as state holidays in order to mitigate costs and to minimize the potential impacts on public employees; and

(2) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 732, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 732, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Hawaiian Affairs,

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MAILE S.L. SHIMABUKURO, Chair