STAND. COM. REP. NO. 425-24

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2024

RE: H.B. No. 2610

H.D. 1

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2024

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Water & Land and Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 2610 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO DISASTER RELIEF,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to establish a Disaster Relief Match Special Fund and appropriate funds to provide the local match requirements of the Maui Wildfires Hazard Mitigation Grant Program.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the State Hazard Mitigation Forum; Office of the Mayor of the County of Maui; one member of the Maui County Council; and Maui Chamber of Commerce. Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Budget and Finance.

Your Committees find that communities in Lahaina and upcountry Maui that were devastated by the Maui wildfires in 2023 have received support through the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. However, this grant program requires a match from non-federal funds. Your Committees further find that in prior disasters, potential applicants have faced difficulty planning for and identifying funds for the local match. This measure is intended to address one of the primary impediments to the complete and efficient use of Hazard Mitigation Grant Program funding by establishing a Disaster Relief Match Special Fund to provide the local match requirements of the Maui Wildfires Hazard Mitigation Grant Program.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Changing the appropriation into and out of the Disaster Relief Match Special Fund to an unspecified amount;

(2) Changing the effective date to July 1, 3000, to encourage further discussion; and

(3) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

Your Committees respectfully request your Committee on Finance, should it choose to deliberate on this measure, to consider appropriating $25,000,000 into and out of the Disaster Relief Match Special Fund to provide the local match requirements of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Maui Wildfire Hazard Mitigation Grant Program.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Water & Land and Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2610, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2610, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Finance.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Water & Land and Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs,

____________________________ DAVID A. TARNAS, Chair

____________________________ LINDA ICHIYAMA, Chair