STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2415

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 2582

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2016

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committees on Hawaiian Affairs and Water, Land, and Agriculture, to which was referred S.B. No. 2582 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT MAKING AN APPROPRIATION TO THE KAHOOLAWE ISLAND RESERVE COMMISSION,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

 

     (1)  Appropriate funds to the Kahoolawe Island Reserve Commission for projects such as the restoration and preservation of the natural, cultural, and historic resources of the Kahoolawe island reserve and its meaningful and safe use by the people of Hawaii; and

 

     (2)  Require the Kahoolawe Island Reserve Commission to submit a financial self-sufficiency and sustainability plan to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2017.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Kahoolawe Island Reserve Commission, Department of Planning for the County of Maui, Aha Moku Advisory Committee of the Department of Land and Natural Resources, Conservation Council for Hawaii, Pacific American Foundation, Maui Planning Department, and twenty-seven individuals.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Center for Hawaiian Sovereignty Studies.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from two individuals.

 

     Your Committees find that the Kahoolawe Island Reserve Commission is integral to the restoration and preservation of the natural, cultural, and historic resources of the Kahoolawe island reserve, which itself is of significant cultural and historic importance to the native people of Hawaii.  Your Committees therefore find that funding and ensuring the financial stability of the Kahoolawe Island Reserve Commission are essential to the restoration and preservation of the Kahoolawe island reserve.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Hawaiian Affairs and Water, Land, and Agriculture that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2582 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 Hawaiian Affairs and Water, Land, and Agriculture,

 

________________________________

MIKE GABBARD, Chair

 

________________________________

MAILE S.L. SHIMABUKURO, Chair