THE SENATE

S.R. NO.

176

THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2023

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

SENATE RESOLUTION

 

 

URGING THE DEPARTMENT OF ACCOUNTING AND GENERAL SERVICES TO provide maintenance services at sunset memorial park and develop a plan for the state to take ownership of sunset memorial park.

 

 

     WHEREAS, Sunset Memorial Park, located in Pearl City on Oahu, is currently in a state of legal uncertainty as the company that owned the cemetery involuntarily dissolved in 2006 and the company's owner passed away in 2011; and

 

     WHEREAS, as a result, Sunset Memorial Park has been neglected for years, leading to safety concerns for persons whose family members are buried at the cemetery; and

 

     WHEREAS, sunken graves and overgrown vegetation can make it difficult for family members to find the sites where loved ones were buried at Sunset Memorial Park; and

 

     WHEREAS, Sunset Memorial Park has also been the subject of vandalism, with thieves displacing ashes from copper urns and encampments of homeless people accidentally setting fires to the area; and

 

     WHEREAS, with no owner to take responsibility over the cemetery, Sunset Memorial Park currently relies on volunteers to maintain the cemetery; and

 

     WHEREAS, however, without proper financing, the condition of Sunset Memorial Park continues to worsen; and

 

     WHEREAS, despite Sunset Memorial Park being licensed and having a trust fund balance of $168,000, legal issues prevent access to that money; and

 

     WHEREAS, the State must step up to provide maintenance at Sunset Memorial Park to prevent further irreversible damage to the cemetery and the remains of persons who are interred there; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Thirty-second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2023, that the Department of Accounting and General Services is urged to provide maintenance services at Sunset Memorial Park; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Accounting and General Services is urged to develop a plan for the State to take ownership of Sunset Memorial Park; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Comptroller and the Chairperson of the Pearl City Neighborhood Board No. 21.

 

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title:

Sunset Memorial Park; DAGS; Cemetery Maintenance