STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1004

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    H.B. No. 281

       H.D. 3

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fifth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2009

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committees on Energy and Environment and Higher Education, to which was referred H.B. No. 281, H.D. 3, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ENVIRONMENT,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure is to prioritize the expenditure of federal funds received by the State through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to develop the highly skilled and well-trained green collar workforce needed by Hawaii's emerging green economic sector and to implement the Emergency Environmental Workforce Program.

 

     Testimony in support of the measure was submitted by one individual.  Testimony in support of the measure, with suggested amendments, was submitted by the Research Corporation of the University of Hawaii (RCUH) and the Nature Conservancy.  Testimony in support of the intent of the measure, with a suggested amendment, was submitted by the University of Hawaii.  Testimony in opposition to this measure was submitted by two state departments.  Written testimony presented to your Committees may be reviewed on the Legislature's website.

 

     Your Committees find that in 2001, the Legislature established the Emergency Environmental Workforce, pursuant to Act 4, Third Special Session Laws of Hawaii 2001, in order to provide funding to the RCUH to employ Hawaii residents who were economically displaced after the terrorist attacks of 2001.  The 225 RCUH employees who were part of this program augmented existing programs by combating the State's serious environmental problems relating to invasive species.  Many of these program participants have continued their careers in environmental and conservation areas.

 

     In Hawaii's current economic crisis, the same type of program may be beneficial to the State by providing jobs and training to economically displaced residents, while at the same time addressing the State's pressing environmental concerns.  Through funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and other appropriate federal funding, these dual goals can be met.  The RCUH estimates that a green-collar workforce consisting of 200 employees employed for twelve months with benefits would cost up to $14,800,000 to be paid from any appropriate federal stimulus funds.

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Deleting the word "contract" in Section 3(1) and (2) and Section 4(4) of the measure, as recommended by the RCUH, because the workforce employees will not be contract employees;

 

     (2)  Deleting Section 4(5), as recommended by the University of Hawaii and the RCUH, because the RCUH utilizes the services of the Attorney General's Office as its legal counsel;

 

     (3)  Adding a provision addressing procurement and employment matters for the workforce employees, as recommended by the RCUH;

 

     (4)  Providing that the Emergency Environmental Workforce program will also supply support and prevent layoffs in existing environmental programs, as recommended by the Nature Conservancy;

 

     (5)  Narrowing the reference to federal funds to those federal sources that are appropriate, as recommended by the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations; and

 

     (6)  Changing its effective date from July 1, 2020, to July 1, 2009.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Energy and Environment and Higher Education that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 281, H.D. 3, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 281, H.D. 3, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Energy and Environment and Higher Education,

 

____________________________

JILL TOKUDA, Chair

 

____________________________

MIKE GABBARD, Chair