STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2696

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2972

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2024

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Government Operations and Public Safety and Intergovernmental and Military Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 2972 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO DISASTER PREPAREDNESS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to require all public buildings constructed after January 1, 2025, to be designed to withstand category five hurricanes and be used as shelters in the event of an emergency.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from one member of the Kailua Neighborhood Board; 2050 Hawaii, Inc.; Be Ready Manoa; Hui O Hauula; Windward Coalition; and thirteen individuals.

Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Education.

Your Committees find that the State is vulnerable to catastrophic natural disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, volcanic eruptions, and high winds that can devastate communities. Climate change is increasing the frequency of these natural disasters. For example, the spawning area for hurricanes is moving northward as a result of warming seas, causing the State to be more directly in the paths of hurricanes moving westward across the Pacific. As global warming is causing stronger hurricanes, improved emergency preparedness is of paramount importance to the State. Therefore, this measure requires stronger resiliency of public buildings to expand available shelters and increase protection for Hawaii's people.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Clarifying that all high-occupancy public buildings constructed after January 1, 2025, are required to be designed to withstand category five hurricanes, as determined by wind zone maps, and to be utilized as shelters in the event of an emergency;

(2) Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2112, to encourage further discussion; and

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

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Government Operations and Public Safety and Intergovernmental and Military Affairs that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2972, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2972, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Government Operations and Public Safety and Intergovernmental and Military Affairs,

________________________________ GLENN WAKAI, Chair

________________________________ ANGUS L.K. MCKELVEY, Chair