STAND. COM. REP. NO. 612

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                   

 

RE:     S.B. No. 835

        S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirtieth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2019

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Water and Land, to which was referred S.B. No. 835 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE STATE BOARD ON GEOGRAPHIC NAMES,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

 

     (1)  Add a community liaison to the membership of the State Board on Geographic Names; and

 

     (2)  Require the Department of Land and Natural Resources to publish and send a listing of its decisions, along with other information, to state and other agencies, and provide the same publication, along with pertinent information, to the United States Board on Geographic Names. 

 

     Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources, Office of Hawaiian Affairs, and Office of Planning.

 

     Your Committee finds that the State Board on Geographic Names was created to assure uniformity in the use and spelling of the names of geographic features within the State.  The Board is responsible for designating the official names and spellings of geographic features in Hawaii.  In its deliberations, the Board solicits and considers the advice and recommendations of appropriate government officials and, as appropriate, other knowledgeable persons.  The State Board on Geographic Names has been engaged in a multi-year project to review each of the over 10,000 names that appear on the quadrangle maps and/or in the U.S. Geographic Names Information System and to add the okina and kahakō, or diacritical marks, as appropriate.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Reinserting the provision allowing for alternate names; and

 

     (2)  Inserting an effective date of December 31, 2050, to encourage further discussion.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Water and Land that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 835, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 835, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Water and Land,

 

 

 

________________________________

KAIALI'I KAHELE, Chair