STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2073

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2006

RE: S.B. No. 3062

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2006

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Tourism and Media, Arts, Science, and Technology and Education and Military Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 3062 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT MAKING AN APPROPRIATION TO PACIFIC AVIATION MUSEUM PEARL HARBOR,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to appropriate moneys to the Pacific Aviation Museum at Pearl Harbor for Phase II of the museum's development.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Tourism Authority, The Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii, and the Pacific Aviation Museum.

The Pacific Aviation Museum at Pearl Harbor is a not-for-profit, tax-exempt Internal Revenue Code 501(c)(3) organization established in 1999. The museum's purpose is to develop a portion of Ford Island into a world-class aviation museum that will honor the patriotism, valor, and sacrifice made by aviators and their ground support personnel in the defense of freedom in the Pacific. The scope of the new museum will include World War II, the Korean War, the Cold War, the Vietnam conflict, and current American air power. It will feature diorama exhibits, period and reproduction aircraft, an aviation education center, a flight simulation center, a theater, a museum store, a food service area, and a library.

Additional state funds are necessary to provide the foundation for Phase II of the museum to be housed in Hangar 79 on Ford Island. Phase II development shall include the planning, designing, and construction to improve and restore Hangar 79. The current cost to complete Phase II is estimated at $30,000,000. Phase II exhibits will encompass the campaigns of World War II, and an introduction to the Korean War and the Vietnam conflict. The museum will complete its fundraising in Hawaii over the next eighteen months and will then launch a national campaign to fund the balance of Phase II. The State's ongoing support is extremely important in demonstrating to potential mainland funding sources the State's strong backing of this important new initiative. This museum will be the most significant new amenity to Hawaii's tourism and education infrastructure since the arrival of the USS Missouri eight years ago. The State must appropriate the crucial funds to preserve aviation history and honor those who fought for our freedom.

According to testimony of the Pacific Aviation Museum, it is anticipated that a vast majority of the funding, approximately eighty-eight percent, will come from the mainland and the federal government. To date, the museum has raised over $11,300,000, including $8,100,000 from the federal government.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Tourism and Media, Arts, Science, and Technology and Education and Military Affairs that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 3062 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 Tourism and Media, Arts, Science, and Technology and Education and Military Affairs,

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CAROL FUKUNAGA, Chair

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DONNA MERCADO KIM, Chair

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NORMAN SAKAMOTO, Chair