STAND. COM. REP. NO. 906

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 1178

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2017

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 1178, S.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT MAKING AN APPROPRIATION FOR HE‘EIA NATIONAL ESTUARINE RESEARCH RESERVE,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to support the He'eia estuary as a National Estuarine Research Reserve. 

 

More specifically, this measure appropriates funds to maintain the initial staff necessary to develop and manage He'eia Reserve and its programs.

 

     Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the University of Hawaii, The Nature Conservancy, Kamehameha Schools, Ko'olaupoko Hawaiian Civic Club, and twelve individuals.

 

     Your Committee received written comments on this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources, Office of Planning, and the Hawaii Community Development Authority.

 

     Your Committee finds that the State has coordinated with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to nominate the He'eia estuary as a National Estuarine Research Reserve.  The He'eia estuary was nominated as a Reserve in 2014, and on January 19, 2017, the estuary was officially designated as the twenty-ninth site in the National Estuarine Research Reserve System. 

 

Your Committee further finds that funding for initial staffing is essential in order for the He'eia Reserve to succeed in its function within the National Estuarine Research Reserve System.  Your Committee notes that designation as a Reserve enables federal funding to support the implementation of the management plan.  According to federal regulations, the federal government matches state appropriations on a seventy percent (federal) to thirty percent (state) basis.  Your Committee therefore recognizes the importance of providing state funds to support four full-time equivalent initial staffing positions.  Although the appropriation in the original version of this measure was $400,000, your Committee's Chair has received information that the actual amount needed may be less.  According to the information, the range may be $240,800 to $326,900.  Your Committee intends to consider including an appropriation in the general appropriations act for this purpose or, conversely, to use this measure as a vehicle to support these initial staffing positions.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1178, S.D. 1, and recommends that it pass Third Reading.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

 

 

 

________________________________

JILL N. TOKUDA, Chair