STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2605

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2918

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Water, Land, Culture and the Arts, to which was referred S.B. No. 2918 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE HAWAII COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to require the Hawaii Community Development Authority to establish a Community Action Center in Chinatown with the expenditure contingent upon the City and County of Honolulu providing matching funds.

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

Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Hawaii Community Development Authority.

Your Committee finds that Chinatown is the historic urban core of Honolulu and is in dire need of revitalization. Your Committee believes that creating a Community Action Center charged with organizing community, researching conditions, and developing a strategic implementation plan is needed. This measure will strengthen Chinatown's economy, public safety, and cultural heritage as well as capitalize on transit-oriented development and related opportunities.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion; and

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

Your Committee notes the concerns expressed by the Hawaii Community Development Authority that the City and County of Honolulu should be the government entity to determine if a community action center is a priority and to carry it out rather than the Hawaii Community Development Authority. Accordingly, your Committee respectfully requests that subsequent Committees to which this measure is referred consider this issue.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Water, Land, Culture and the Arts that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2918, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2918, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

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

________________________________

CHRIS LEE, Chair