STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2896

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2657

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2024

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Transportation and Culture and the Arts, to which was referred S.B. No. 2657 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO MAKAHIKI COMMEMORATION DAY,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to establish Makahiki Commemoration Day.

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

Your Committee finds that Makahiki, a festival dedicated to the god Lono, is a celebration beginning when the star cluster Makaliʻi rises over Hawaii. Your Committee further finds that the festival is a Hawaiian celebration of the new year, emphasizing harvest, bounty, and peace. This measure will recognize the importance of the Makahiki traditions by commemorating it each year.

Your Committee notes that the Makahiki season spans four consecutive months. Due to Makahiki's dependence upon the star cluster Makaliʻi's orbit, the beginning of the festival can fall between late October to early November. For this reason, your Committee respectfully requests any subsequent committee to which this measure is referred to deliberate on an appropriate day for Makahiki Commemoration Day to be celebrated.

Your Committee has amended this measure by inserting an unspecified date for Makahiki Commemoration Day.

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 S.B. No. 2657, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2657, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Transportation and Culture and the Arts,

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CHRIS LEE, Chair