STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2975

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    H.B. No. 1868

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2014

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committees on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs and Education, to which was referred H.B. No. 1868 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EMERGENCY SHELTERS,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to strengthen public safety in Hawaii by authorizing the issuance of general obligation bonds to fund the retrofitting of public school facilities so that they can also be used as emergency shelters.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Education and Disability and Communication Access Board.

 

     Your Committees find that in the event of a natural disaster or other emergency, the State's citizens may need to evacuate to shelters that can withstand the dangers associated with such natural disasters or emergencies.  The retrofitting of public school facilities to meet the standards of emergency shelters is critical to the State, especially people with disabilities and other access and functional needs, whose mobility and safety may depend largely upon the design and accessibility of emergency shelters.

 

     Your Committees request that the Department of Education make a recommendation to the Legislature regarding an appropriation amount to fund the retrofitting of public school buildings so that they can be used as emergency shelters.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs and Education that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1868 and recommend that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs and Education,

 

____________________________

JILL N. TOKUDA, Chair

 

____________________________

WILL ESPERO, Chair