STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1002

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2025

RE: H.B. No. 1153

H.D. 1

Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2025

State of Hawaii

Madame:

Your Committee on Finance, to which was referred H.B. No. 1153 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO FUNDING ADJUSTMENTS FOR STATE PROGRAMS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to:

(1) Address the omission of the budget special provisions that authorize supplemental allotments and transfer of unrequired balances for capital improvement program projects; and

(2) Establish a protocol fund for each principal state department as a separate account, with a cap of $7,000, to be expended at the discretion of the executive head of the department.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Transportation.

Your Committee finds that various state departments have had operational challenges supplementing allotments of funds appropriated for capital improvement projects for fiscal biennium 2023-2025 and transferring these appropriated funds between projects to address changing conditions. Your Committee further finds that although previous executive budget and supplemental budget bills have sometimes allowed departments to transfer funds between their projects and established protocol funds to be expended at the discretion of the executive heads of departments or agencies, the executive budget and supplemental budget bills for fiscal biennium 2023-2025 did not. This measure amends those budget bills to authorize the Governor to make supplemental allotments and transfer unrequired balances for capital improvement projects, and increases the cap on each principal department's protocol fund from $2,500 to $7,000, to allow departments to adapt to changing conditions as they undertake capital improvement projects.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Changing the effective date to July 1, 3000, to encourage further discussion; and

(2) Making a technical, nonsubstantive amendment for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Finance that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1153, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1153, H.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Finance,

____________________________

KYLE T. YAMASHITA, Chair