STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1887

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2025

RE: H.R. No. 159

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 Public Safety, to which was referred H.R. No. 159 entitled:

"HOUSE RESOLUTION URGING THE CITY AND COUNTY OF HONOLULU, COUNTY OF MAUI, COUNTY OF HAWAII, AND COUNTY OF KAUAI TO CREATE AND MAINTAIN A COMPREHENSIVE LIST OF HURRICANE REFUGES AND SHELTERS ELECTRONICALLY ACCESSIBLE TO THE PUBLIC,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to ensure up-to-date information about hurricane refuges and shelters is available to the public electronically, on a government-run website, with the following minimum criteria: facility name, address, relevant site-specific instructions; category of hurricane the shelter or refuge area can sustain; capacity limit; pet-friendliness designation; and special needs accommodation designation.

Your Committee received testimony from the Department of Education providing comments, and testimony in support from the State Council on Developmental Disabilities, the Hawaii Climate Change Health Working Group, and three individuals.

Your Committee recognizes Hawaii's rising risk of experiencing extreme weather events, the importance of electronically accessible information so that the public can seek refuge at a moment's notice, and the current lack of a comprehensive list of hurricane refuges and shelters throughout the entire state. Your committee also finds that though an electronically accessible listing of all emergency refuges and shelters is critical, there needs to be a disclaimer explaining that not all locations will necessarily be opened during a particular emergency because the designating of emergency refuges and shelters are determined and announced at the time an emergency is declared.

Your committee also concurs with the appropriateness of changing the outdated term “special needs” to “access and functional needs” as recommended by the State Council on Developmental Disabilities.

Your committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Requesting the counties include disclaimers to the electronically accessible list of refuges and shelters that makes it clear that not all locations will necessarily be opened because the designating of emergency refuges and shelters will be determined and announced at the time an emergency is declared; and

(2) Replacing all “special needs” language with “access and functional needs”.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Public Safety that is attached to this report, your Committee concurs with the intent and purpose of H.R. No. 159, as amended herein, and recommends its adoption in the form attached hereto as H.R. No. 159, H.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Public Safety,

____________________________

DELLA AU BELATTI, Chair