STAND. COM. REP. 2209

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2004

RE: S.B. No. 3048

S.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2004

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 3048 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE WEED AND SEED PROGRAM,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to appropriate moneys to expand the Weed and Seed Program to other communities that meet federal guidelines for receiving federal funding under the Weed and Seed Program.

Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the Housing and Community Development Corporation of Hawaii, Department of Human Services; Department of Public Safety; Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Hawaii at Manoa; Kauluwela Elementary School; Honolulu City Council; Honolulu Police Department; Downtown Neighborhood Board No. 13; Ewa Beach Community Association; Waipahu Community Associations; Coalition for a Drug-Free Hawaii; Fort Street Business Improvement District Association; Gentry Homes, Ltd.; Pacific Gateway Center; Urban Honolulu Network; and seventy-six individuals. Testimony in opposition to this measure was submitted by one individual. Comments regarding this measure was also submitted by one individual.

Your Committee finds that the local Weed and Seed Program in place has been successful since its inception in the Kalihi-Palama and Chinatown areas of downtown Honolulu. Since the beginning of the program, crime in those areas has been significantly reduced. Thus, your Committee believes that the program's success warrants an expansion into other communities, and this measure will appropriate moneys to assist in the implementation of those programs.

Your Committee has amended this measure to remove Hawaii Community Foundation as the grant recipient. Instead, the Department of the Attorney General will be the expending agency and will chair the program's steering committee. Further, the program will receive funds only after establishing an account specifically for legislative appropriations, federal funds, and private contributions.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 3048, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 3048, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs,

____________________________

COLLEEN HANABUSA, Chair