STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1804

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                

 

RE:    H.B. No. 133

       H.D. 1

       S.D. 2

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2023

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred H.B. No. 133, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, 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 the fiscal biennium beginning July 1, 2023, and ending June 30, 2025.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.

 

Your Committee finds that the Office of Hawaiian Affairs is a semi-autonomous state agency, established by Article XII, sections 4 and 5, of the Hawaii State Constitution and Chapter 10, Hawaii Revised Statutes, that is responsible for improving the well-being of native Hawaiians and Hawaiians.  This measure appropriates funds for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs' operating budget in support of plans for the upcoming biennium and is vital to fulfilling its mandates.  Your Committee further finds that for every dollar of state funds provided, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs matches these general funds with trust funds, community funds, and additional Office of Hawaiian Affairs funds.

 

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

(1)  Changing the amount appropriated for beneficiary advocacy from an unspecified amount of general revenues to $87,000,000 for fiscal year 2023-2024 and $3,000,000 for fiscal year 2024‑2025;

 

(2)  Changing the amount appropriated for beneficiary advocacy from an unspecified amount of public land trust funds to $3,000,000 per fiscal year;

 

(3)  Deleting program provisions specifying unspecified sums for occupancy-ready housing needs, social services, and educational improvement programs for Native Hawaiian students;

 

(4)  Adding a program provision specifying $65,000,000 in general funds for bulkhead repairs;

 

(5)  Adding a program provision specifying $6,000,000  to prepare an environmental impact statement for Hakuone;

 

(6)  Adding a program provision specifying $13,000,000 for Kukaniloko;

 

(7)  Changing the program provision for legal services and legal representation to Office of Hawaiian Affairs beneficiaries from an unspecified amount of general funds to $75,600 in general funds and $75,600 in trust funds;

 

(8) Changing the program provision for protections of aina (land and water) from an unspecified amount of general funds and trust funds to $500,000 in general funds and $500,000 in trust funds; and

 

(9)  Changing the program provision for ohana (families and communities) economic stability from an unspecified amount of general funds and trust funds to $370,000 in general funds and $370,000 in trust funds.

 

     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 H.B. No. 133, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 133, H.D. 1, S.D. 2.

 

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

 

 

 

________________________________

DONOVAN M. DELA CRUZ, Chair