STAND. COM. REP. NO.  909

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2009

 

RE:   H.B. No. 983

      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 Finance, to which was referred H.B. No. 983 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EDUCATION,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this bill is to enhance traffic safety, especially around Hawaii's schools, by requiring the Director of Transportation (Director) to:

 

     (1)  Conduct a statewide pupil travel evaluation, through the Safe Routes to School (SRS) coordinator, to study how students get to school;

 

     (2)  Use the information gained from the evaluation to provide funds to each school for school-based workshops and community-based planning to reduce vehicular traffic and congestion, encourage walking and bicycling, and promote health and safety;

 

     (3)  Develop a streamlined application process for federal SRS grants; and

 

     (4)  Submit to the Legislature a report of the results of the evaluation and the school-based workshops and community-based planning projects funded by the SRS program.

 

     The Hawaii Bicycling League and Peoples Advocacy for Trails Hawaii testified in support of this bill.  The Department of Transportation and a concerned individual opposed this measure.  The Department of Education (DOE) offered comments.

 

     Your Committee has amended this bill by:

 

     (1)  Specifying that the Director shall, in the Director's use of the information obtained from the evaluation to provide SRS Program funds, consult with DOE, the Department of Health, and the Hawaii Association of Independent Schools;

 

     (2)  Removing the specification that SRS program funds for school-based workshops and community-based planning projects be provided to each school;

 

     (3)  Requiring that funding decisions take into consideration the need to:

 

          (A)  Maximize the participation of stakeholder groups in the community; and

 

          (B)  Train volunteer facilitators for school-based workshops and community-based planning projects;

 

     (4)  Removing the requirement that the evaluation shall use direct observation to determine the number of students using each mode of travel;

 

     (5)  Deleting the provision that requires the Director to distribute SRS Program funds in a specific range of amounts for school-based workshops and community-based planning projects;

 

     (6)  Clarifying that the Director consult with organizations that have received non-infrastructure and pending infrastructure grants in developing a streamlined process for the federal SRS grant program;

 

     (7)  Specifying that upon passage of the bill, nothing in the Act shall be construed as requiring actions or omissions that would render the State ineligible to receive funds for the SRS program under the 2005 Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act:  A Legacy for Users, Public Law No. 109-59;

 

     (8)  Changing its effective date to July 1, 2020, to encourage further discussion; and

 

     (9)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for clarity, consistency, and style.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Finance that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 983, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 983, H.D. 1.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Finance,

 

 

 

 

____________________________

MARCUS R. OSHIRO, Chair