STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2949

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 2073

       H.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2014

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 2073, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO MEMORIALS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate funds for the planning, design, and construction of a memorial honoring the veterans of the Persian Gulf War, Operation Desert Storm, Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation New Dawn, Global War on Terrorism, Homeland Defense, and Operation Noble Eagle, and those who have protected our borders by land, sea, and air and for the planning, design, and construction of replicas to be located at veterans' cemeteries throughout the State.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Accounting and General Services; State Department of Defense Civil Defense Division; State Department of Defense Office of Veterans' Services; Advisory Board to the Office of Veterans' Services; Military Officers Association of America, Hawaii Chapter; Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, Department of Hawaii; and three individuals.

     Your Committee finds that the Legislature enacted Act 139, Session Laws of Hawaii 2013, directing the development of a plan to establish a war memorial.  Consequently, the Gulf War Memorial Task Force collected data and proposed site selection for the memorial.  Accordingly, this measure appropriates funds to build and establish a Hawaii Gulf War Memorial and replica memorials to be located at veterans' cemeteries throughout the State, as recommended by the Gulf War Memorial Task Force.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2073, H.D. 1 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs,

____________________________

WILL ESPERO, Chair