Bill Text: HI SB699 | 2019 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Relating To The Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum.
Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 5-1)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2019-03-14 - Re-referred to TIA, FIN, referral sheet 35 [SB699 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2019-SB699-Amended.html
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THE SENATE |
S.B. NO. |
699 |
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THIRTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2019 |
S.D. 2 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
H.D. 1 |
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A BILL FOR AN ACT
RELATING TO THE BERNICE PAUAHI BISHOP MUSEUM.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
SECTION
1. The legislature finds that the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum
serves the people and State of Hawaii through its ongoing work to study,
preserve, perpetuate, and share Hawaii's natural and cultural history. It was officially designated as the State of
Hawaii Museum of Natural and Cultural History by the Hawaii state legislature
in 1988 and is the world's premier resource for Hawaiian and Pacific materials,
housing the world's largest collection of Hawaiian and Oceanic cultural
artifacts as well as over twenty-two million biological specimens from Hawaii
and the Pacific. The cultural
collections contain unique and irreplaceable materials of Hawaii and the
Pacific, which are essential to perpetuating the Hawaiian culture and
innovating from a base of knowledge. The
natural history collections represent a library of life that documents changes
in Hawaii's environment over time and provides information crucial to
protecting native species and habitats, as well as combating invasive species.
Over its one hundred thirty-year history,
Bishop Museum has stewarded the collective cultural and environmental heritage
of Hawaii; preserved and translated the oral history of Native Hawaiians
throughout the island chain; published key Hawaiian language and cultural
resources; founded fields of study and performed research leading to countless discoveries;
mounted major exhibitions that have celebrated the nature, culture, and history
of Hawaii and the Pacific; served state and federal resource managers and
agencies; and produced a wide range of educational and public programs for
Hawaii's community.
Bishop Museum's collections and scientific
expertise are regularly accessed by state agencies, including the department of
land and natural resources, department of health, department of agriculture,
and University of Hawaii. State entities
account for approximately one-quarter of all collection usage at the museum,
and museum staff record a minimum of two months' worth of cumulative staff time
per year to support various state agency requests at no charge. Bishop Museum also provides training to state
personnel in entomology, botany, malacology, species identification, taxonomy,
and other areas at no charge.
Bishop Museum biologists work closely with state
scientists to assist in identifying weeds, insects, snails, reptiles, and other
intercepted, potentially invasive species. During the Christmas season when large numbers
of trees are imported from the Pacific Northwest, museum staff identify
intercepted snails and slugs from the tree shipments for the department of agriculture.
In a single year, the museum identified
more than twenty potential new invasive slugs and snails through the tree
shipments and helped to prevent their establishment in Hawaii. The museum also identifies all snakes and other
reptiles and amphibians that are intercepted by State plant quarantine
officials. Museum biologists are also
working with the department of health, department of agriculture, University of
Hawaii, Hawaii invasive species council, and others to conduct field surveys
and screen snails and slugs for the parasite that causes rat lungworm disease.
In addition, Bishop Museum provides vital
educational programs and resources to students and teachers of the department
of education, including science, technology, engineering, and math programs
that address the department's science standards. The museum's educators serve more than twenty-five
thousand students per year through various on-site educational programs.
The State has supported Bishop Museum's
designation as the State of Hawaii Museum of Natural and Cultural History
through an annual appropriation of general revenues to support the museum's
operational activities, which are of great cultural, scientific, and intrinsic
value to the State. This annual appropriation
has decreased significantly over the preceding decade, from $2,470,000 in 1992,
which represented twenty-two per cent of the museum's operating budget at that
time, or $4,500,000 in today's dollars, to its current appropriation of
$626,000, covering just four per cent of the museum's operating budget.
The purpose of this Act is to appropriate funds to support the State of Hawaii Museum of Natural and Cultural History.
SECTION 2. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $2,000,000 or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2019-2020 and the same sum or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2020-2021 to support the Bishop Museum, designated as the State of Hawaii Museum of Natural and Cultural History, including the hiring of necessary staff.
The sums appropriated shall be expended by the department of budget and finance.
SECTION 3. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
Report Title:
Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum; State of Hawaii Museum of Natural and Cultural History; Appropriation
Description:
Appropriates funds to support the work of the State of Hawaii Museum of Natural and Cultural History. (SB699 HD1)
The summary description
of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is
not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.
