STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2700

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 3101

       S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2016

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 3101 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to require and appropriate $150,000 for fiscal year 2016-2017 for the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism to conduct a study on the feasibility of establishing a public-private partnership resource agency within the department for all state departments, divisions, and agencies to use.

     Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism and the Department of the Corporation Counsel of the City and County of Honolulu.

     Your Committee finds that, while public-private partnerships are encouraged as a means to long-term economic growth, the State lacks a comprehensive process for all agencies to engage in public-private partnerships.  Your Committee further finds that cluster development, the geographic concentration of industries related by knowledge, skills, inputs, and demand, is an effective strategy for economic development.  Your Committee believes that public-private partnerships could constitute the core for cluster development.  Your Committee further suggests that an appropriation of $150,000 will be sufficient for the department to hire a research firm to collect data and prepare the research necessary to determine the feasibility of establishing a public-private partnership resource agency.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1)  Changing the $150,000 general fund appropriation to an unspecified amount; and

(2)  Changing the effective date to July 1, 2050, in order to facilitate further discussion on the measure.

     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. 3101, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 3101, S.D. 1.

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

________________________________

JILL N. TOKUDA, Chair