STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2292

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 3072

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 Public Safety and Intergovernmental and Military Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 3072 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Temporarily lift various restrictions on the use of funds for Hawaii wildfire response; and

(2) Extend the lapse date of certain funds set aside for this purpose.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Budget and Finance and Hawaiʻi Emergency Management Agency.

Your Committee finds that the State is in the midst of ongoing response efforts to address the heartbreaking aftermath of the August 8, 2023, wildfires in the counties of Hawaii and Maui, which caused extensive loss of life and damage. Your Committee further finds that while hundreds of millions of dollars have been appropriated in response to the fires, current law requiring lapsed funds to return to the general fund could interrupt critical recovery efforts and services due to a lack of available funds until another legislative appropriation is made. This measure will facilitate the continued uninterrupted provision of assistance to wildfire victims and ongoing wildfire recovery efforts.

Your Committee has amended this measure by 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 Public Safety and Intergovernmental and Military Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 3072, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 3072, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Public Safety and Intergovernmental and Military Affairs,

________________________________

GLENN WAKAI, Chair