STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3312

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 2074

       S.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 Ways and Means, to which was referred H.B. No. 2074 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO VETERANS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to authorize the Director of Finance to issue general obligation bonds, for an unspecified sum, for the purpose of partially funding the construction of a veterans long-term care facility if the federal government provides funding to assist in building the facility.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from Department of Defense - State Civil Defense, Healthcare Association of Hawaii, and Military Officers Association of America.

     Your Committee finds that there are more than forty-four thousand veterans in Hawaii over the age of sixty-five.  Many of these veterans will or currently require long-term care.  Your Committee finds that issuance of these bonds will fund the State's share of a veterans long-term care facility and will provide an economic engine to the community surrounding the facility.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by changing the effective date to July 1, 2050, 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 H.B. No. 2074, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2074, S.D. 1.

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

____________________________

DAVID Y. IGE, Chair