STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1333

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 307

H.D. 1

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2025

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Transportation and Culture and the Arts, to which was referred H.B. No. 307, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO SPECIAL NUMBER PLATES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to authorize the issuance of special number plates to recognize the island of Kahoʻolawe.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi, Spoehr Foundation; Kuaʻāina Ulu ʻAuamo, Protect Kahoʻolawe ʻOhana, and twenty-three individuals.

Your Committee finds that the island of Kahoʻolawe was seized by the United States military in the 1940s and ravaged as a target range in the following decades. Although since returned to the State, the island still bears the scars of its occupation in the form of environmental degradation and cultural desolation. This measure recognizes the island's role as a symbol of the State's strength and preservation by authorizing the sale of special number plates to memorialize and raise funds for the island's restoration.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Clarifying the size restrictions for the decal for the special number plate to recognize the island of Kahoolawe;

(2) Adding language to regulate size restrictions of decals for all special number plates to any organization issued by the State; and

(3) 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 Transportation and Culture and the Arts that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 307, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 307, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

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

________________________________

CHRIS LEE, Chair