Friday, August 13
Increasing Hawaii's High-Speed Broadband Communications: Act 199 (HB2698 HD2 SD2 CD1)
The Hawaii Broadband Task Force was established by the Legislature in 2007 to address the availability, capability, affordability, and use of broadband services in Hawaii. In light of economic times, Act 199 begins a modest implementation of recommendations while the economy begins to recover. A key component of Act 199 requires convening a work group to streamline the permitting process to further the development of broadband services and technology.Friday, August 13
Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT) & State Foundation on Culture and the Arts Layoffs
Among the programs which suffered State staffing cutbacks were the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, and DBEDT. The EDT committee held two joint informational briefings with the House EBM committee in the interim prior to the 2010 session. During the session, the EDT committee developed bills to stabilize key economic programs and activities. The committee will continue to push these types of bills forward.View informational briefing agendas and committee reports in "Documents & Links".
Thursday, August 12
Act 221
Further attempts were made to eliminate Act 221 credits (SB2001, SB2401) during the 2010 session. Here are Senator Fukunaga's April 27, 2010 floor remarks speaking in opposition of SB 2401: "...The House's amendment to S.B. 2401, S.D. 1 [has] raised numerous constitutional concerns, which means that if adopted, the bill will be challenged immediately on the following grounds: It violates due process protections, depriving Hawai`i taxpayers of property without due process in violation of the U.S. and the Hawai`i constitutions, and effectively confiscates the credits for three years... Read moreMonday, August 2