HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.C.R. NO.

114

TWENTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE, 2009

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

Requesting the governor and the chairperson of the board of land and natural resources to strive to expend the state of hawaii's full allotment of federal aid in wildlife restoration funds.

 

 


     WHEREAS, the Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act of September 2, 1937, provides federal aid to states for management and restoration of wildlife, hunter education, and shooting range development; and

 

     WHEREAS, the federal Pittman Robertson Wildlife Restoration Act of September 2, 1937 assesses a ten per cent tax on handguns, pistols, revolvers, and ammunition, an eleven per cent tax on bows and archery equipment, and a twelve and four-tenths per cent tax on arrow components that are appropriated to the United States Secretary of the Interior and apportioned to states on a formula basis for paying up to seventy-five per cent of the cost of approved projects including acquisition and improvement of wildlife habitat, introduction of wildlife into suitable habitat, research into wildlife problems, surveys and inventories of wildlife problems, acquisition and development of access facilities for public use, and hunter education programs as supported in the Department of Land and Natural Resources Recreational Renaissance proposal, including construction and operation of public target ranges; and

 

     WHEREAS, state matching funds are available through in-kind service projects including the valuation of time donated by volunteer instructors in the hunter safety program, for example, and by other means; and

 

     WHEREAS, each year, the State of Hawaii does not use its full allotment of federal funding from the Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act resulting in the unused funds being returned to the federal government for use in other programs; and

 

     WHEREAS, there are many potential projects in the State that qualify for use of the federal funds described above; and

 

     WHEREAS, for instance, the development of a public target range on the island of Hawaii has wide-ranging community support and is needed; and

 

     WHEREAS, using the federal funds allotted to the State would be a needed economic boost for the State; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-fifth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2009, the Senate concurring, that the Governor and the Chairperson of the Board of Land and Natural Resources are respectfully requested to strive to expend the full allotment of Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act funds; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Chairperson of the Board of Land and Natural Resources is requested to consider the development of a shooting range on the island of Hawaii; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Chairperson of the Board of Land and Natural Resources is requested to submit a report of all funds made available to the State through the use of the Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act to the Legislature not later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2010; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Governor and the Chairperson of the Board of Land and Natural Resources.

 

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title: 

Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act; Funds; Shooting Range