STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1273
Honolulu, Hawaii
RE: H.B. No. 600
H.D. 1
S.D. 1
Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi
President of the Senate
Thirty-Second State Legislature
Regular Session of 2023
State of Hawaii
Sir:
Your Committee on Transportation and Culture and the Arts, to which was referred H.B. No. 600, H.D. 1, entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO SAFE ROUTES TO SCHOOL,"
begs leave to report as follows:
The purpose and intent of this measure is to:
(1) Establish the Safe Routes to School Advisory Committee within the Planning Branch of the Highways Division of the Department of Transportation; and
(2) Appropriate funds.
Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Transportation; Department of Education; State Council on Developmental Disabilities; Hawai‘i Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Commission; Honolulu Police Department; Department of Transportation Services of the City and County of Honolulu; Maui Metropolitan Planning Organization; Hawaii State Teachers Association; Ulupono Initiative; Hawai‘i Public Health Institute; Hawaii Primary Care Association; Malama Kauai; We Are One, Inc.; AlohaCare; Hawaii Children's Action Network Speaks!; and fourteen individuals. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Health.
Your Committee finds that safe routes to schools provide Hawaii's keiki with safe and secure alternative transportation methods while also promoting physical exercise and healthy habits. Presently, elementary school students who live within one mile and secondary students who live within one and a half miles of their home school are not eligible for transportation provided by the Department of Education. Additionally, some families may be unable to walk, bike, roll, or ride with their students to school because of employment obligations or other factors. This measure will improve safe routes to schools to protect Hawaii's keiki while also reducing traffic congestion across the State.
Your Committee has
amended this measure by:
(1) Deleting
language that would have established the Safe Routes to School Advisory
Committee;
(3) Requiring the comprehensive statewide Safe
Routes to School Plan to include performance measures, goals, strategies, and
accountability for improving safety, active mode share, community investment in
supportive programming, and infrastructure quality;
(4) Adding
language that authorizes the Safe Routes to School Program Coordinator to consult
with relevant stakeholders;
(5) Clarifying
that the Safe Routes to School Program Coordinator shall be a central point of
contact for all Safe Routes to School Programs, rather than federal Safe Routes
to School Program;
(6) Amending
section 1 to reflect its amended purpose; and
(7) Making
technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and
consistency.
As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Transportation and Culture and the Arts that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 600, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 600, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Transportation and Culture and the Arts,
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________________________________ CHRIS LEE, Chair |
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