STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1631

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                   

 

RE:     S.C.R. No. 118

        S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2023

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committees on Government Operations and Transportation and Culture and the Arts, to which was referred S.C.R. No. 118 entitled:

 

"SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE LEGISLATIVE REFERENCE BUREAU TO RESEARCH THE MAKAHIKI TRADITION TO DETERMINE AN APPROPRIATE DATE TO DESIGNATE AS A STATE HOLIDAY CELEBRATING MAKAHIKI,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to request the Legislative Reference Bureau to research the Makahiki tradition to determine an appropriate date to designate as a state holiday celebrating Makahiki.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from one individual.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Legislative Reference Bureau.

 

     Your Committees find that Makahiki is an annual festival and season of the Native Hawaiian tradition dedicated to harvest, bounty, taxation, and the god Lono.  Makahiki was a time for the Hawaiian people and their ruling chiefs to focus on rest, strengthening their bodies, and having great feasts of commemoration, during days in which labor was prohibited.  Your Committees further find that Makahiki was revived on Kahoolawe and Molokai in 1981 and 1982, respectively and that the State currently recognizes November 20th of each year as Makahiki Commemoration Day.  This measure acknowledges the importance of designating Makahiki as a state holiday.

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Acknowledging that Act 68, Regular Session of 2008 designates November 20th of each year as a non-holiday "Makahiki Commemoration Day";

 

     (2)  Amending it to request the Legislative Reference Bureau to research the designation of November 20th of each year as Makahiki Day as an unpaid state holiday, and submit a report, including any proposed legislation, to the Legislature prior to the Regular Session of 2024; and

 

     (3)  Amending its title in accordance with its amended purpose.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Government Operations and Transportation and Culture and the Arts that are attached to this report, your Committees concur with the intent and purpose of S.C.R. No. 118, as amended herein, and recommend its adoption in the form attached hereto as S.C.R. No. 118, S.D. 1.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Government Operations and Transportation and Culture and the Arts,

 

________________________________

CHRIS LEE, Chair

 

________________________________

ANGUS L.K. MCKELVEY, Chair