STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1044

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    H.B. No. 988

       H.D. 2

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2013

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committees on Energy and Environment and Water and Land, to which was referred H.B. No. 988, H.D. 2, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO NATIVE WILDLIFE,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to increase the environmental response, energy, and food security tax to support the operations of an environmental disaster standby and response facility to respond to oil and fuel-related disasters affecting native wildlife in the State.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Hawaii Wildlife Center, Friends of Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge, Friends of Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge, Surety Kohala Corporation, Umemoto Cassandro Design, Rhoady Lee Architecture and Design, and twenty individuals.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Taxation, Department of Budget and Finance, Department of Land and Natural Resources, Tax Foundation of Hawaii, and one individual.

 

     Your Committees find that Hawaii has the largest concentration of endangered and threatened species in the world, a majority of which are birds.  Of more than one hundred types of endemic Hawaiian birds, more than two-thirds are already extinct, and over eighty percent of those that remain are threatened with extinction.  Your Committees also find that there are more than 14,000,000 seabirds that rely on habitats in the Hawaiian archipelago. 

 

     Your Committees find that a purpose-built and operational oiled-wildlife response facility is the standard set for highly successful emergency responses, as it provides efficient, state-of-the-art wildlife care, provides control of animal and hazardous waste handling and tracking, and ensures the safety of everyone working with oiled wildlife.

 

     Your Committees find that the environmental response revolving fund would be a more appropriate source of funding to support the operations of the environmental disaster standby and response facility.

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Removing sections 2 through 4 of the measure regarding the establishment of the wildlife recovery and rehabilitation special fund and amendment of related sections of the Hawaii Revised Statutes addressing the environmental response, energy, and food security tax;

 

     (2)  Inserting language to amend section 128D-2, Hawaii Revised Statutes, to add, as an authorized use of the environmental response, energy, and food security tax revenues deposited into the environmental response revolving fund, support for the operations of an environmental disaster standby and response facility in the State that shall be responsible for the recovery and rehabilitation of native wildlife that are sickened, injured, or contaminated as a result of an oil or fuel-related disaster in the State;

 

     (3)  Amending the purpose section for consistency;

 

     (4)  Changing the effective date to July 1, 2013; and

 

     (5)  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 Energy and Environment and Water and Land that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 988, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 988, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Energy and Environment and Water and Land,

 

____________________________

MALAMA SOLOMON, Chair

 

____________________________

MIKE GABBARD, Chair