STAND. COM. REP. NO. 424

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2023

RE: H.B. No. 474

H.D. 1

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2023

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Culture, Arts & International Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 474 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE STATE OF HAWAII MUSEUM OF NATURAL AND CULTURAL HISTORY,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to appropriate federal funds to sustain and support the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Bishop Museum, Historic Hawai‘i Foundation, Society for Hawaiian Archaeology, and two individuals.

Your Committee finds that the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, designated as the State of Hawaii Museum of Natural and Cultural History, is significant for its cultural, architectural, educational, scientific, and historical contributions to Hawaii. The Museum is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is one of Hawaii's most significant and iconic buildings. Your Committee further finds that the Bishop Museum stewards more than twenty-five million catalogued objects and actively generates and shares knowledge associated with its collections. Your Committee finds that it is necessary to appropriate funds to support the Bishop Museum's core functions and support ongoing operations to preserve irreplaceable cultural treasures.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Changing the effective date to June 30, 3000, to encourage further discussion; and

(2) Making a technical, nonsubstantive amendment for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

Your Committee respectfully requests your Committee on Finance, should it deliberate on this measure, to consider an appropriation amount of $7,500,000.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Culture, Arts & International Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 474, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 474, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Finance.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Culture, Arts & International Affairs,

____________________________

ADRIAN K. TAM, Chair