STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1351

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 415

H.D. 2

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2023

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Health and Human Services and Transportation and Culture and the Arts, to which was referred H.B. No. 415, H.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT MAKING AN APPROPRIATION TO IMPLEMENT THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE TASK FORCE ON MOBILITY MANAGEMENT, ESTABLISHED PURSUANT TO ACT 214, SESSION LAWS OF HAWAII 2013,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate funds to the Department of Health to implement the recommendations of the Task Force on Mobility Management established pursuant to Act 214, Session Laws of Hawaii 2013 (Act 214).

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the State Council on Developmental Disabilities, Disability and Communication Access Board, AARP Hawai‘i, Hawaii Disability Rights Center, Maui Metropolitan Planning Organization, National Federation of the Blind of Hawaii, Oahu Metropolitan Planning Organization, and five individuals. Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Transportation.

Your Committees find it paramount that the State has a comprehensive transportation network that can offer its residents, including kupuna and individuals with disabilities, efficient, safe, and affordable transportation options. To enable the State to make an informed decision on the best means by which this objective can be effectuated, the Legislature passed Act 214, which established the Task Force on Mobility Management to make recommendations on establishing a transportation framework to assist kupuna and individuals with disabilities with transportation needs in each county, including recommendations relating to funding through the state budget and program development. The task force's final report, submitted to the Legislature on January 30, 2015, recommended that the State continue to support the counties' efforts in developing their respective Mobility Management Program by various means. This measure will allow those recommendations to be implemented and thereby promote the establishment of a comprehensive, reliable transportation system in each county, enabling its residents to fully access the economic, health, and social aspects of their communities.

Your Committees acknowledge concerns raised in testimony stating that the Department of Transportation, whose purview includes the planning and designing of various transportation modes in the State in coordination with other government agencies, is better suited to implement the recommendations of the Task Force on Mobility Management. Amendments to this measure are therefore necessary to address this concern.

Accordingly, your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Amending the expending agency of the appropriated funds from the Department of Health to the Department of Transportation to implement the recommendations made by the Task Force on Mobility Management established pursuant to Act 214;

(2) Amending section 1 to reflect its amended purpose;

(3) Making it effective upon its approval; and

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

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Health and Human Services and Transportation and Culture and the Arts that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 415, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 415, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Health and Human Services and Transportation and Culture and the Arts,

________________________________ CHRIS LEE, Chair

________________________________ JOY A. SAN BUENAVENTURA, Chair