STAND. COM. REP. NO.  554

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2009

 

RE:   H.B. No. 1352

      H.D. 1

 

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Fifth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2009

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Economic Revitalization, Business, & Military Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 1352 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE NATURAL ENERGY LABORATORY OF HAWAII AUTHORITY,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this bill is to improve administration of the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii (NELHA) by:

 

(1)  Moving NELHA to the Department of Budget and Finance for administrative purposes;

 

     (2)  Expanding the number of directors to thirteen;

 

(3)  Removing from the board, the Chairperson and Secretary of the Research Advisory Committee, Director of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism, Chairperson of the Board of Land and Natural Resources, President of the University of Hawaii, Mayor of the County of Hawaii, and the two members chosen from the boards of the Strategic Development Corporation and High Technology Development Corporation; and

 

(4)  Making other modifications to board membership including adding two NELHA tenant members.

 

 

     The Department of Budget and Finance and Department of Land and Natural Resources opposed this bill.  The National Defense Center of Excellence for Research in Ocean Sciences commented on this measure.

 

     Your Committee respectfully requests the Committee on Finance, to which this measure is next referred, to consult with representatives of the Big Island community to resolve the issues that have been bringing measures like this one to the Legislature in recent years, and that are distracting NELHA from its valuable work.  In addition, your Committee respectfully requests that the Committee on Finance look at putting representatives of environmental interests on the NELHA board.

 

     To encourage further discussion of the issues raised by this measure, your Committee has changed its effective date to July 1, 2112.  Technical, nonsubstantive amendments were also made for clarity, consistency, and style.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Economic Revitalization, Business, & Military Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1352, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1352, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Finance.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Economic Revitalization, Business, & Military Affairs,

 

 

 

 

____________________________

ANGUS L.K. MCKELVEY, Chair