House Standing Committee on Economic Development & Technology

Okay. Good morning, everyone. We are in room 423. It's 10 a.m. Here for the ECD hearing on April 11th, 2025. Let's see. If there's problems with internet connections, you're going to have to deal with that on your side.

We probably won't run into a time crunch today, but if we, if we do, then we're going to move to decision making. Okay, first item, SCR51. Requesting the Office of Planning and Sustainable Development to convene a working group to evaluate the establishment and administrative placement of an Office of Resilience and Recovery.

First up, we have Mary Alice Evans from the Office of Planning Sustainable Development.

Chair, Vice Chair. David Kobayashi on behalf of Mary Alice Evans from the Office of Planning Sustainable Development. Office of Planning Sustainable Development supports this measure but offers amendments to SCR51.

We'd like to suggest that the membership of the working group be revised by naming the mayor of each county or their designee in place of the county civil defense administrators. This would basically give the mayors greater flexibility when deciding, like who to represent them.

For instance, in some cases, the representatives might be from the Office of Resilience or other Officers of Resilience who might be more applicable to placing where the Office of Recovery and Resilience should be located ultimately.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Any questions?

No. Next up, we have Luke Meyers from the office, Hawaii Office of the Governor Recovery and Resiliency Unit.

Chair. Vice Chair, good morning. Luke Meyers. I am the Branch Chief at the Office of Recovery and Resiliency Unit. We stand in our testimony in support of this.

You know, in light of some of the larger changes that we're seeing at the federal level with potential grant funds on recovery and resiliency and the large disasters that we've seen since 2018. Sometimes we have a short memory here, but recovery, resiliency work goes on for decades.

So we have a similar comment to OPSD of potentially looking at the composite of the body, understanding that we have emergency management and civil defense professionals. We also have recovery and resiliency professionals in each of the counties. And allowing the mayor to identify those would probably be best available for any questions necessary. Thank you.

Thank you. Is there anyone else who'd like to testify in person or online? Is there anyone online? Nope, no one's online. Okay then, members.

Thank you. Chair, I have a question for either one. Who has, who from what county, or which mayor asked to have that flexibility?

So in each of our counties in Hawaii county we have civil defense. Douglas Lay is their recovery lead, which is a separate unit. Similar in Maui, we have MEMA on the emergency management side, but John Smith leads the Office of Recovery as a product of the Maui wildfires on the city and County of Honolulu.

Jennifer Walters is at the DEM side, but Mr. Sullivan leads the resiliency unit. And similar on Kauai, Elton leads KIMA, but they have a separate unit for recovery. So, depending on the scope and what's been laid out in this resolution, allowing the mayor to make that decision, I think, would be best.

The other option, you could do an andor one of those two bodies.

So, you never answered my question. So, which county ask you to make that flexibility?

Oh, no, we're making that based on our engagement from the Office of Recovery and Resiliency. We deal primarily with the recovery and resiliency, unless the emergency management, my apologies.

Yes, sir.

So on your insight and your experience and through your interaction with what you know, this is a recommendation that you have?

This is not with consultation with the counties.

That is correct.

So the administrator for each of these agencies are able to also designate, depending on who they want to fill in that seat.

Aren't they capable to also designate who they want?

Yes. We just. In the work that we've been doing on the recovery and resiliency side, we want to acknowledge those other separate functions of government with within the counties, the emergency management larger functions include recovery and resiliency, but the way that the county governments have separated them is just a recommendation.

Thank you, sir.

Okay, well, it sounds like the agencies are able to, one, know who's actually leading some of these fronts, and they'll probably designate who they feel is most capable for that role. And with this current language, they're able to do that. Okay, thank you.

Thanks. Any other questions? Okay, then let's move on to SCR 40, requesting the Hawaii Technology Development Corporation to increase its focus on advanced manufacturing and cybersecurity to allow local manufacturers to expand production, lower costs, and create new products. For this measure, we have testimony from Mr. Tokioka from DBEDT, Board's representative. Anybody here? Online? Okay, then, the Hawaii Military Affairs Council.

Okay. Is there anyone else who would like to testify on this measure? It's not a very popular measure today, huh? Okay. I guess there's no one who can ask questions to either, if there's no one here to testify. Then let's move on to the next item. Thank you.

SCR65 urging stadium authority to finalize a contract for the construction of the new Aloha Stadium and to continue its efforts in earnest to create the new Aloha Stadium entertainment district. For this we have Chris Sarayasu from DBEDT Stadium Authority Aloha Stadium.

Thank you, Chair, Vice Chair and representatives Chris Sarayasu, Interim Stadium Manager. We stand in our testimony offering comments, but we do support the intent, but we are working hard and diligently to get it done.

And not necessarily sure that a resolution is required to encourage us to continue, but we appreciate this and this opportunity to comment on it. Thank you.

Thank you, Chris. Up next, we have Keith Reagan from DAGS in support.

Hi. Gordon Wood, Public Works Administrator for the Department of Accounting and General Services and for Mr. Reagan. The Department stands on its written testimony in support of this resolution. And I agree with Mr. Sarayasu. We are working very hard to make sure that this happens. Okay, thank you.

Very good. Thank you. And then Stanford Carr from Aloha Halawa District Partners.

Hi. Good morning. Stanford Clark couldn't be here today. I'm Christine Rain with Aloha Halawa District Partners. And we stand in strong support of this measure as well as standing on written testimony. Thank you.

Thank you. Would anyone else like to testify in this measure in person, online? Do we have any questions for the testifiers, Members? No questions. Okay, very good. We'll move on to the next item.

SCR 178 SD1 urging the East west center to expand international engagement around the world and serve as a bridge to help the state share its unique expertise with tropical agriculture, food security, public health, education, clean energy, sustainable development, where it might be most helpful to other communities around the world. We have East West Center. Are they here?

And they are in support. There's a surprise. And would anyone else like to testify on this measure? Any questions? Okay, next item.

SCR 30 requesting the commander of Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam to allow the Department of Parks and Recreation of the City and County of Honolulu to use your restricted vacant land on the Pearl City Peninsula for youth ball programs. For this item we have Larry Verray, Chairman of Pearl City Neighborhood Board.

Yes. Aloha Chair, Vice Chair, Committee Members, good morning. I'm Larry Vray, Chair of the Pearl City Neighborhood Board, and I'm providing this testimony as the board as a whole. In our night, in our 2025 legislative priorities, we stated our requirement to locate vacant land opportunities to support building additional youth ball fields.

Because of the high demand to support these youth programs. Every year we, we go through this where we've got a lot of the coaches that come to our meetings and say they couldn't sign up, they couldn't have any availability for their Ball fields. And our proposal is here.

Our neighborhood board has had repeated requests for youth ball coaches and then a great need for available for these ball fields for the Pearl City area. We're in total support of SCR30. The area that we want is right on Pearl City peninsula at the entrance.

40 years ago there was one of the tank one blew up and there was PFAS put on it. But it's a 12 acre area and the Navy decided just to clear the whole thing out.

There's only one area that's got pfas and our proposal is when we meet with the Navy is put a parking lot over the PFAs and the rest of the area is just totally flat green. They cut it all the time. Perfect location for ball fields.

And we really think it's a win win not only for for the public, but also for the Navy. And it'll support Waipahu, Pearl City and Aiea. And I ask for your support for this. Thank you very much. Any questions?

We'll get to the questions in a minute. Thank you, Mr. Vray. Okay, thank you. Would anyone like to testify on this measure? Is there anyone online who'd like to testify? Okay, Members, would you have any questions? Okay, thank you. All right, next item.

SCR 24 strongly urging the US Department of Defense to maintain all references to the 100th Infantry Battalion and the 442nd Regimental Comment Team on its websites. For the public. Okay. We have the Hawaii Military Affairs Council in support. Are they here? Burns Yamashita from the Nisei Veterans Legacy Organization. In support.

Kathleen Hayashi, Hundredth Infantry Battalion veterans in support. Nandita Sharma, Hawaii J20 in support. Bill Kaneko, Hawaii Coalition for Civil Rights in support. Carol Hayashino in support. Randy Iwase in support. Alan Suimori in support. Okay. Would anyone else like to testify? This is a very popular measure. This is a good one to jump in on.

We have any questions? Discussion on this? No. All right, we'll move on to the next item. SCR 195 supporting and encouraging a broader relationship between the State and the Kingdom of Sweden. We have Anders G.O. Nervell, the Honorary Council of Sweden. Is Nervell, Mr. Nervell in the room? No. Are they online perhaps? Okay.

Would anyone like to testify in this measure? Okay. No questions. All right, moving on. SCR 196 supporting and encouraging a broader relationship between the state and the Kingdom of Norway. We have Serena Arad in support. Are they online?

No.

Okay. Would anyone else like to testify on behalf of Norway? No. Oh, well, okay. Then in that case, we're going to recess for decision making and to reach quorum. Okay, we're back in for decision making. Any discussion on. On the first item or frankly, any of the resolutions before us.

Thank you. Chair. For SCR 51, testimony did recommend to make some changes and allow the mayor to select the person to serve into this group. At this moment, the administrator is able to designate someone who will be more than capable of doing the job.

And to ensure the likelihood of passing this resolution, we don't want to further amend it due to the fact that it has to be the same in both chambers. So to save this reso, unless there's something that just going to prevent the working group to move forward, then we are going to leave it as is.

If that's okay for you, Chair.

That's great. Any further discussion, any concerns? Okay, so my recommendation is going to be the same for all of these items, which is to pass as is and move them forward to the floor. So here, why don't you take the vote.

Chair, let's just, point of order. Just to ensure that we're moving through this process right, please state your recommendation for each item. Okay. And then we'll vote accordingly. Thank you.

Okay, so decision making then. SCR 51, Chair's recommendation is to pass as is.

The Chair's recommendation is to pass as is Chair votes aye. I vote aye. Representative Holt is excused. [Roll Call] =Representative Matsumoto is excused. Chair, your resolution has been adopted.

Thank you. SCR 40. Same recommendation. Which is to pass as is.

Chair's recommendation is to pass SCR 40 as is. For the remainder of the hearing, Representative Holt and Representative Matsumoto are excused. Any Members wishing to vote no? Any Members wishing to vote with reservations? With all Members voting aye. Chair, your resolution has been adopted.

Thank you. Okay. SCR 65, same recommendation to pass as is.

Chair's recommendation is to pass as is Members, any votes? Any Members voting no? Any Members voting with reservation. With all Members voting aye. Chair, your resolution has been adopted.

Thank you. Okay. SCR 178 SD1 recommendation's to pass as is.

Chair's recommendation is to pass as is. Any Members voting with reservation? Any Members voting no? With all Members voting aye. Chair, your resolution has been adopted.

Thank you. Okay. SCR 30 recommendation's to pass as is.

Chair's recommendation is to pass as is. Any Members voting with reservations? Any Members voting no? With all Members voting aye, Chair, your resolution has been adopted. Thank you.

Okay. SCR 24 SD1 recommendation's to pass, as is.

Chair's recommendation is to pass, as is. Any Members voting with reservation? Any Members voting no? With all Members voting aye. Chair, your resolution has been adopted.

Thank you.

SCR 195 recommendation's to pass as is.

Chair's recommendation is to pass as is. Any Members voting with reservations? Any Members voting no? With all Members voting aye. Chair, your resolution has been adopted.

Thank you. Last item is SCR 196 recommendation's to pass as is.

Chair's recommendation is to pass as is. Any Members voting with reservations? Any Members voting no? Chair, with all Member voting yes, your Chair, your resolution has been adopted.

Thank you very much. Congratulations on a 20-minute hearing, everybody.