STAND. COM. REP. NO. 406-26

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2026

RE: H.B. No. 2340

H.D. 1

Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

Madame:

Your Committee on Higher Education, to which was referred H.B. No. 2340 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT MAKING AN EMERGENCY APPROPRIATION TO THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to make an emergency appropriation for fiscal year 2025-2026 to the University of Hawaii to expand and sustain the Maui Wildfire Exposure Study and Maui Health Registry.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa; one member of the Maui County Council; Hawaii Medical Association; American Cancer Society Center Action Network; Hawaiʻi Public Health Association; Kaiser Permanente; Hawaiʻi Climate Change & Health Working Group; American Lung Association in Hawaiʻi; Hawaiʻi Community Health; and numerous individuals.

Your Committee finds that the Maui Wildfire Exposure Study and the Maui Health Registry have been extremely successful in the wake of the disastrous Lahaina wildfires, providing services to more than two thousand residents, including medical and mental health screenings, biomonitoring, and referrals to care. Your Committee further finds that additional funding is needed to expand and sustain these services, with a focus on children and other high-risk populations, as well as to ensure long-term follow-up.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Changing the appropriation 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 Committee respectfully requests your Committee on Finance, should it deliberate on this measure, to consider an appropriation amount of $1,500,000.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Higher Education that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2340, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2340, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Finance.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Higher Education,

____________________________

ANDREW TAKUYA GARRETT, Chair