STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1155

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    H.B. No. 209

       H.D. 2

       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 Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 209, H.D. 2, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE BUDGET OF THE OFFICE OF HAWAIIAN AFFAIRS,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate funds for the operating costs of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs for fiscal years 2015-2016 and 2016-2017.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, REACH Out Hawaii, Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs, Kalihi Palama Hawaiian Civic Club, and four individuals.

 

     Your Committee finds that the Office of Hawaiian Affairs' programs serve Hawaii's people, environmental resources, and cultural assets.  The Office of Hawaiian Affairs testified that it not only matches funds appropriated by the State, but that it is able to leverage funds appropriated by the State by a factor of four to one.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Increasing the appropriation amounts for the operating budget for beneficiary advocacy relating to housing, health, and income improvement to the amounts set forth in the Office of Hawaiian Affairs' original budget request;

 

     (2)  Inserting proviso language with regard to the operating budget as related to housing and income improvement; and

 

     (3)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 209, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 209, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

 

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

 

 

 

________________________________

MAILE S.L. SHIMABUKURO, Chair