STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1574

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2005

RE: H.B. No. 328

S.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2005

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred H.B. No. 328 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT MAKING AN APPROPRIATION FOR THE PURCHASE OF DEVELOPMENT RIGHTS OF AGRICULTURAL LANDS IN WAHIAWA,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to ensure the preservation of a significant cultural site, the Kukaniloko birthstones in Wahiawa.

Specifically, this measure provides funds to match those of the Farmland Protection Program to allow the State to acquire the development rights for the agricultural lands surrounding this site.

Your Committee finds that the Kukaniloko birthstones are one of the most significant cultural sites to native Hawaiians. The immediate site is five acres, which are surrounded by two thousand four hundred acres of prime agricultural land. Development of these lands could negatively impact the birthstones. This measure will provide the matching funds needed to ensure that the site is protected and not desecrated.

Your Committee amended the measure by changing the appropriation amount from an unspecified amount to a nominal amount in order to facilitate further discussion on this matter.

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 H.B. No. 328, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 328, S.D. 1.

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

____________________________

BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair