STAND. COM. REP. NO. 21

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 521

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Agriculture, to which was referred S.B. No. 521 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT AUTHORIZING THE ISSUANCE OF SPECIAL PURPOSE REVENUE BONDS TO WAIMEA NUI COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to authorize the issuance of special purpose revenue bonds up to $45,000,000 to Waimea Nui Community Development Corporation, a private not-for-profit corporation, for the planning, acquisition, and construction of agriculture, renewable energy, and educational facilities.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Agriculture, Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Waimea Nui Community Development Corporation, and three individuals.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Budget and Finance.

 

     Your Committee finds that the Waimea Nui Community Development Corporation is a Native Hawaiian non-profit organization operating in the South Kohala district of the island of Hawaii and has developed a comprehensive agriculture and renewable energy enterprise, open to the entire Kohala region, that directly contributes to the State's economy and security through local food and energy production.  Therefore, your Committee finds that the issuance of special purpose revenue bonds to the Waimea Nui Community Development Corporation is in the public interest and for the public health, safety, and general welfare.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by designating that the authorization to issue special purpose revenue bonds to Waimea Nui Community Development Corporation is pursuant to part X, chapter 39A, Hawaii Revised Statutes.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Agriculture that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 521, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 521, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

 

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

 

 

 

____________________________

RUSSELL E. RUDERMAN, Chair