STAND. COM. REP. NO. 989

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2023

RE: H.B. No. 209

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 Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 209, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO TOURISM,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to require the Department of Agriculture to include within the Plant and Animal Declaration Form a statement requiring persons completing the form to affirm they are aware of various legal protections for public monuments and structures and will heed Hawaii's desecration laws.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from two individuals.

Your Committee finds that many tourists visiting the State are unaware of the various laws and rules that protect public monuments and structures, including but not limited to Native Hawaiian cultural sites, burial grounds, and places of worship. The Department of Agriculture's Plant and Animal Declaration Form is one document that many tourists see and must complete before arrival in the State. Therefore, your Committee finds that this form is an appropriate and convenient opportunity to obtain acknowledgment from tourists that they are aware of and will heed the laws against desecration.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 209, H.D. 1, and recommends that it pass Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs,

____________________________

DAVID A. TARNAS, Chair