STAND. COM. REP. NO. 754

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 1211

       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 Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 1211 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE MAJOR DISASTER FUND,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to assist the State in preparing for major disasters by amending the major disaster fund expenditure ceilings.

 

     Specifically, this measure:

 

(1)  Amends, to an unspecified amount, the expenditure ceiling the Governor may expend for immediate relief of an emergency or disaster;

 

(2)  Amends, to an unspecified amount, the expenditure ceiling available to match federal disaster relief funds; and

 

(3)  Requires the Director of the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency (Adjutant General) to submit a report to the Legislature within one month of any allotment or expenditure of major disaster fund moneys.

 

     Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the State Department of Defense and the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency.

 

     Your Committee finds that the current ceilings of $2,000,000 are too low and that response costs for the recent disasters of Hurricane Iselle and the Puna lava flows have come close to reaching the maximum allowed by law.  Increasing the upper limit on funds that are available for disaster relief will provide greater flexibility in ameliorating the effects of a large disaster.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

(1)  Establishing a $10,000,000 ceiling that the governor may expend for immediate relief of a single emergency or disaster;

 

(2)  Establishing a $10,000,000 ceiling that may be made available for the purpose of obtaining matching federal disaster relief funds; and

 

(3)  Changing the effective date to July 1, 2050, to facilitate further discussion.

 

     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. 1211, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1211, S.D. 1.

 

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

 

 

 

________________________________

JILL N. TOKUDA, Chair