STAND. COM. REP. NO. 131

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 360

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Government Operations, to which was referred S.B. No. 360 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO MEASUREMENTS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to promote familiarity with and utilization of the metric system by requiring its eventual use on all state or county signs that express a measurement of distance or speed.

     Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of Transportation; Centerscale Automation Hawaii, Inc.; and one individual.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Agriculture.

     Your Committee finds that most countries use the metric system of measurements.  Although there are a number of hardships associated with displaying both the United States customary system and the metric system, it is important to post measurements through both systems to better communicate measurements to users of both systems of measurement.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Government Operations that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 360 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 Government Operations,

____________________________

DONOVAN M. DELA CRUZ, Chair