STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1560

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2025

RE: H.C.R. No. 163

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 Culture & Arts, to which was referred H.C.R. No. 163 entitled:

"HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION URGING THE STATE FOUNDATION ON CULTURE AND THE ARTS TO ESTABLISH AN ANNUAL FESTIVAL CELEBRATING PACIFIC ISLAND CULTURE AND ARTS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to urge the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, in consultation with other agencies, to establish an annual festival in Hawaii that celebrates the culture and arts of the Pacific region.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts and one individual.

Your Committee finds that the 13th Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture (FestPAC), hosted by Hawaii for the first time in its fifty-two-year history in June 2024, attracted more than five hundred thousand visitors and over two thousand two hundred delegates from more than twenty-five island nations. Your Committee believes that events like FestPAC promote trans-Pacific cooperation and help preserve the strong cultural heritages of Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia and providing annual dedicated opportunities to learn about and experience the varied cultures and traditions that make up the Pacific region will foster the bonds among these peoples and allow for further understanding, cooperation, and appreciation.

Your Committee has amended this measure by making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Culture & Arts that is attached to this report, your Committee concurs with the intent and purpose of H.C.R. No. 163, as amended herein, and recommends its adoption in the form attached hereto as H.C.R. No. 163, H.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Culture & Arts,

____________________________

JEANNE KAPELA, Chair