STAND. COM. REP. NO. 231

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 998

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2025

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Government Operations and Public Safety and Military Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 998 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE HAWAII FIRST RESPONDERS MEMORIAL,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate funds to the Department of Accounting and General Services to hire a consultant to evaluate potential locations and designs for the Hawaii First Responders Memorial.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Accounting and General Services; Office of the Mayor of the City and County of Honolulu; United Public Workers AFSCME Local 646, AFL-CIO; one member of the Honolulu City Council; Kauai County Fire Department; and one individual.

Your Committees find that first responders provide a vital service to the State and deserve to be honored for their sacrifice and heroism. Following the adoption of H.C.R. No. 87, H.D. 2 (2024), the Hawaii First Responders Memorial Working Group was formed to plan and construct a memorial for the State's first responders. In November 2024, the Working Group submitted their first report to the Legislature detailing their findings. This measure appropriates funds as requested by the Working Group to move forward to the next stage in the planning process, which entails contracting with a consultant to evaluate potential memorial sites.

Your Committees note that this measure contains an unspecified appropriation amount. Should your Committee on Ways and Means choose to deliberate on this measure, your Committees respectfully request that it consider inserting an appropriation amount of $100,000 to hire a consultant to evaluate potential memorial sites. This appropriation amount is based on an estimate by the Department of Accounting and General Services for the cost of screening up to eight sites statewide and a detailed review of the top three preferred sites.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Government Operations and Public Safety and Military Affairs that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 998 and recommend that it pass Second Reading 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 Military Affairs,

________________________________ BRANDON J.C. ELEFANTE, Chair

________________________________ ANGUS L.K. MCKELVEY, Chair