House Standing Committee on Economic Development & Technology

Hey. Good morning, everyone. We are here for the economic development technology hearing in Room 423. Today is 02/13/2026, 08:30AM. Let's see.

Good morning. Here, you must adjourn prior to floor session. Not all testifiers may have the opportunity to testify. In that event, please know that your written testimony will be considered by the committee. For those on Zoom, please keep yourself muted and your video off while waiting to testify and after your testimony is complete.

The Zoom chat function will allow you to chat with the technical staff only. Please use the chat only for technical issues. If you're disconnected unexpectedly, you may attempt to rejoin the meeting. If disconnected while presenting testimony, you may be allowed to continue if time permits. Please note that the House is not responsible for any bad Internet connections on the testifier's end.

In the event of a network failure, it may be necessary to be rescheduled at the hearing or schedule the meeting for decision making. In that case, an appropriate notice will be posted. Please avoid using any trademarks or copyrighted images. Please refrain from profanity or unruly behavior. Such behavior may be grounds for removal from the hearing without the ability to rejoin.

We're joined this morning with Chair Ilagan, Representative Templo, Representative Ganyam. I mean, Representative Hussey. And we're gonna start with, let's see. First measure is HB 1813 related to taxation. It's become customary for folks to come to the podium and say your name and to say that you're standing in written testimony.

I think we can forego with a lot of that extraneous stuff. Let's just assume that you are standing in your written testimony, and I will just ask if anyone has anything that they'd like to add to your written testimony at the at the podium, if that's okay. Alright. So for this measure, we have three, testimonies submitted, zero in support, one in opposition, two with comments. What anyone would like to testify at the podium or on Zoom.

Okay. Are there any questions from the committee? Oh, this is going to go fast if we do it like this. Okay. Next measure is HB 2429 relating to tax expenditure evaluation.

We have three testimonies with comments. Would anyone like to testify? Okay.

Okay. Very good. Mr. Yamachika on Zoom.

Thank you, members of the committee. Tom Yamachika from Tax Foundation. This bill, if adopted, would appear to require many taxpayers to file two tax returns, one with DBEDT and one with DOTAX. And the consequences of failing to file with one agency but not the other are unclear.

We would be okay with opening the information pipeline from DOTAX to DBEDT as long as the data is anonymized. But putting the owners on the taxpayer doesn't seem to be warranted in this case. Happy to answer any questions.

Okay. Thank you very much. Any questions from the committee?

Actually, I just have a fast question, for DOTAX. Good morning.

Good morning. I needed to ask if these disclosure requirements in the bill conflict with any federal tax laws?

Well, they would have potentially. We're required to release federal tax information. So that was our concern, just putting some guardrails in this bill just to make sure that it's clear. If we're going to do that, it seems like they're saying anything we release to DBEDT would then have to be publicly released, which would be an issue.

Okay. So it's the publicly released part of that. Okay. Okay. Thank you.

Yeah. I get it. Question.

Do you see any issues with this, where it might be? How do you protect taxpayer privacy while making the tax benefit information publicly available?

I think the only way to really truly do it is make it anonymized. So summary reporting, which is what we typically do. The other concern I know that at least I had in reading this, is that if you release information and it's very few taxpayers, even anonymized, somebody can deduce probably who those taxpayers are. So that's the big concern about the public release.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you very much. Okay.

You know, as a policy, what the legislature is asking for in this bill is that as a condition of claiming the tax credit that you disclose certain things. And it's mainly just the total amount. Do you think it's wrong for the legislature to ask for that kind of information as a policy?

No. Okay. I mean, I think the state needs to know what's happening.

So thank you.

One more question.

Would it be possible to summarize the data instead of individually releasing it out in the public? Would that be okay?

I think so. Yes.

So the concern is that these federal tax records may be released individually. But if it's summarized data, then that's okay.

Yeah. Summarized, anonymized, I think. Again, until you get down to, if you have three taxpayers claiming this, that might be an issue.

I see. Yeah. So when there's limited applicants for a tax credit, you can pretty much narrow down who they are.

Yeah. Anybody who wants to find out can probably deduce who it is.

Thank you. Can I follow up?

The purpose of the bill is to get to the individual. Right? So if you group them, then it defeats the purpose of the bill. So, like, if you're going to claim the credit, all we want to know is the total that each taxpayer is claiming.

I get that. It's just the balance. I mean, just trying to stay within the law.

I mean, we're not trying to get all the other information out of them. Right? It's just that one thing.

And that's why I just want to make sure we have guardrails so that

Yeah. Okay. Thanks very much. Any further questions?

Okay. Is anyone else interested in testimony on discussion? Move then to 2423 HD1 relating to biodiesel. We have three testimonies submitted, two in support, zero in opposition, one with comments. Would anyone like to add anything to your testimony or speak?

Please, sir, and introduce yourself, please.

Mr. Chair, Mr. Vice Chair, members of the committee, my name is Bob Fung. I'm partner of Pacific Biodiesel. We submitted a written testimony, but we have two comments. One is that Pacific Biodiesel has production capacity to supply all of the biodiesel needed to support B5 in Hawaii now. Nothing needs to be imported, contrary to other people's testimony.

The only other thing we would like to ask for is an amendment for the implementation date from 01/01/2028 to 01/01/2027. That'll provide plenty of time to develop the rollout plan.

Thank you. Thank you. Any other testifiers? Thank you. Any questions from our committee?

Representative Gedeon.

And maybe for the gentleman who just spoke. For Mr. Fung? Yes.

How many other, companies in Hawaii produce ethanol? Biodiesel. Biodiesel.

I'm sorry. There are maybe a couple others that are in the process. Pacific Biodiesel has been doing this for the past 30 plus years.

Thank you. Any other questions? Any other testifiers? Okay. Great.

Now we're moving to HB 1996, HB 1. This is related to hearing aids. We have six test testifiers in support, zero in opposition, two with comments. Would anyone like to add anything to your testimony? Anyone on Zoom?

Okay. Are there any questions for any of the testifiers from the committee? All right. Okay. Next measure, HB 1851 HD1 related to taxation.

For this measure, we have five testimonies in support, zero in opposition, two with comments. Would anyone like to add anything to your written testimony? Anyone on Zoom? Anything. Oh, okay.

Hello.

Yes. Morning, Chair, Vice Chair, and committee members. I'm Brian McCarron on behalf of the Disability and Communication Access Board and our executive director, Christine Pagano. We did submit this funding support. I just wanted to add, you know, there's been several attempts over the past few years to try and help with the cost of hearing aids.

Unfortunately, the ones that have dealt with insurance have gotten caught up in some administrative difficulties with having to get an auditor's report and exactly what that's supposed to be. So this is a bill, though, that can immediately lower the cost essentially for people. So I really would encourage you to pass this bill. Thank you.

Thank you. Thanks. So just to be clear, this is on on 1996. Yeah. Any questions for Mr. Mitt? Okay. Thank you, James. Would anyone else like anyone else like to speak on 1996? Okay.

Great. So back to 1851. So is that would everyone else like to testify in 1851? HB 1851? Okay.

Please.

No. Great. On all Friday, Chair Ilagan and Vice Chair Hussey and members of the Committee. I'm Jade Butay, Director of the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. We stand on our testimony, in support of the ETA. Thank you.

Okay. Thanks very much. Anyone else? Tom?

Yeah. Thank you, vice chair of this committee. Tom Yamachika from Tax Foundation. We think that a program such as this would be better served with a direct apportionment of funds as opposed to using the tax system for this, because using the tax system will entail significant overhead costs in, you know, things like reprogramming the system, making forms, trying to publicize the the program from the tax side and so forth.

We're also concerned that, there are, key metrics in the bill that are now blank, and, we would ask that the committee fill them in before moving the bill.

Okay. Thank you very much. Any questions for Mr. Yamachika? Is anyone else interested in testifying on 1851? Okay.

Thanks very much. Moving now to HB 2546, related to tax credit for research activities. For this measure, we have 6 in support, none in opposition, 3 with comments. Would anyone like to add to their written testimony, or just to speak?

All right. Anyone on Zoom? Any questions from our committee? Chair?

I was hoping that HDDC can come up for this one. With this bill, I I just wanted ACDC to give a summary of how effective this tax credit could be, if you don't mind.

So this tax credit bill has been in existence for some time, and local companies rely on it to support their long term R&D work. It takes a lot of effort to take something from an idea to a concept. So being able to plan at a time that if you make these large capital investments upfront, there is support from the state in the long term future. I will add that in my comments.

I would love for it to become a pro rata program.

In the past, it's been a first come, first serve, and it's kind of like a Black Friday sale, where if you were up early enough and you're the first one to get in, you had the highest chance of getting a tax credit, which makes it challenging for a lot of companies who are doing this R&D, and they're not sure if they're going to get any tax credit whatsoever.

So by making it pro rata, it allows everyone who applies within a certain time window to ensure they get some portion of the tax credit.

Thank you. Thanks. Any further questions? Okay. Any other testifiers?

All right. Very good. That was HB 2546. We're moving now to 2028 HD1 relating to Labor Day. We have three in support, one in opposition, two with comments.

Would anyone like to add anything to your testimony?

Thank you, Chair, Vice Chair, Committee members.

Hold on. Mike, I just want to let everyone know that my Vice Chair stepped out, and I will be resuming the Chair for the testimonies. Go ahead. Thank you. Thank you, Vice Chair.

Mike Yosua, on behalf of the Hawaii Iron Workers Stabilization Fund. I just want to emphasize how important this bill is to recognizing the hard work that the construction workers of Hawaii do, not only the building trades, but all of Hawaii's construction workers. I know there's been some pushback or some opposition about public funding of private benefits. I would call into recognition the fact that the state does incentivize a lot of private benefits, and I think this is an important recognition for Hawaii construction workers. Happy to answer any questions.

Thank you. We have Tom over at the Tax Foundation of Hawaii on Zoom.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chair, members of the committee. Tom Yamachika from the Tax Foundation. We first of all question why the state should be subsidizing a paid holiday for construction workers as opposed to any other industries. Other industries contribute significantly to the state's growth. Other workers should be afforded a paid day of rest and recognition of Labor Day similar to construction workers, and other industries are struggling with the financial burden of paying any pay, let alone holiday pay, in these harsh economic times.

We think there's a technical concern with the nonduplication provision in subsection F because it speaks of qualified costs, but the term is not defined. So we think it's important for taxpayers to know what's going to be disallowed if this credit is taken. Finally, the draft includes unspecified credit amounts and otherwise contains blanks for important information. We urge that this committee fill in the blanks before moving this bill on. Happy to answer any questions.

Thank you very much for this opportunity. Thank you. We have Cody Sula in support.

Hello, Chair. We have Representatives Templo and Gideon. Good morning. Cody, on behalf of the Iron Workers Stabilization as well. We submitted written testimony. We stand on that.

I just wanted to highlight a few reasons why this bill came about. It was never our intention for the state to get involved between negotiations between the union and the employers. Our intention for this bill was, we've always looked at other ways that we can help curb some of the cost of living, bring down the burden on our workers.

And the intention was for the state to give back some of the taxpayers' dollars back to their workers to help reduce the cost of living burden. It's always been talked about how we can support our local businesses, how we can support our working people, and this is a way that we thought would be an avenue to do it. So those are the reasons why we put it out. Thank you for your time.

Thank you, Cody. At this time, we have three members in support, one in opposition, with two comments. Any other testifiers on Zoom and in person wishing to testify? All right. With none, we're going to ask questions with the members.

With no questions, we're going to move on to the next bill. We have HB 2583. And the first testifier with comments is with DBEDT.

Aloha Chair, Committee members. Dennis Ling with DBEDT. DBEDT stands in its written testimony offering comments. Thank you.

Thank you. Moving on to our next testifier is the Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii in support. Thank you. At this time for this bill, we have four testifiers in support and zero in opposition with one comment. Any other testifiers wishing to testify in Zoom or in person?

With none, members, any questions? With no questions, we'll move on to the next bill. We have HB 2490. Could we have Eric Motto in Zoom? And he is in support.

Yes. Aloha, chair and members of the committee. I am Eric Motto, president of Paya Matukuchi Sotto Missions Administrative Board, and I do want to add further emphasis to Montukuchi's call for assistance and support. In the past year, a computer science teacher from Maui High School and a handful of his students have conducted drone observations and collected data on the shoreline erosion at Montraciu Bay.

They have completed three observations and after their latest visit in January, I received the text from one of the students asking whether we had excavated the portion of shoreline that was noticeably missing.

And I had to explain that the damage was all due to mother nature's winter waves. The scope and scale of damage is significant, and the rapid progression of erosion as witnessed by the high school student can seem unbelievable, but it is all very real. I am has spent about ten years and close to a million dollars to implement a temporary emergency solution.

Is very grateful to the state and local officials that approved our temporary sandbag structure allowed under current rules and restrictions, but our property loss and the threats to our temple structures continue.

This bill will help to continue to work under the guidance and supervision of our expert coastal engineer consultants in collaboration with government departments and agencies like DLNR, OCCL, and the land board to work on other alternate, safe and sound, nature based, long term solutions to not only restore and protect our Montegochi Bay, but also to serve as a project that can be a model for how to better serve your oceanfront constituents throughout the state suffering similar threats.

In closing, I offer a humble please and thank you for your support of House Bill 2,490. Mahalo.

Thank you. We have eight testimony in support, zero in opposition, with one comment. Any other testifiers in person or in Zoom wishing to testify? With none, members, any questions? With no questions, we'll move on to HB 2545 relating to the Hawaii Technology Development Corporation.

Our first testifier is Sage Pacific LLC in support. Fake me out there, Christine. I thought you were the person.

I'm sorry.

The next person is ACDC in support.

Chairs, members of the committee. We sent a written testimony, but I kinda wanna highlight a few things. So the R and D tax credit that we talked about earlier, it's about supporting R and D and how much how capital intensive it is. The SBIR program

Can you

please say your name?

Oh, sorry. Trung Lam with HCDC. My apologies. The SBIR program takes what is r and d and turns it into commercialization, which means economic development for the state of Hawaii. Just to give you an idea, this past year, we had, 11 applications for our SBR phase two, phase three.

We are We were able to award eight. This brought in $11,000,000 from federal funding, but of the total grant request of $3,500,000, we were only able to cover 1,000,000. And the opportunity we are leaving on the table is these these these, proposals are projected to bring 93 new jobs, of which 56 are high wage jobs. So we're not doing enough to support these companies. We're doing great work, taking their technologies, and trying to commercialize it.

So I think this this bill, increases the chance that these companies can take these products, commercialize it, and bring economic growth for the state of Hawaii. Thank you.

For this bill, we have 19 testifiers in support, zero opposition, and zero comments. Is there any other testifiers in person or in Zoom wishing to testify? With none, we—members, do we have any questions? With no questions, we're gonna move on to HB 2114 relating to human services. Our first testifier is Christine Sakuda and with comments.

Aloha, chair, members of the committee. I'm Christine Sekuda, the State Chief Information Officer. We are providing comments on this bill. We really support the intent of the Hawaii benefits hub and believe its potential to significantly improve how health care is delivered in Hawaii, ensuring people have access to, to benefit programs, but we believe that there are several complex operational and policy changes that must be addressed to ensure long-term success.

We are—at the Office of Enterprise Technology Services, we provide enterprise, enterprise IT support, and so, we look forward to working very closely with the service providers, such as DHS and the different programs, to make sure that we move forward in a thoughtful way.

And we don't wanna build technology for technology's sake, so there has to be a nice tight alignment between the technology and infrastructure that we can build and the services that it's hoping to, to deliver on. So, thank you. Standby for, for any questions. Mahalo.

Thank you. We have Department of Human Services with comments, in Zoom.

I'm here in person. Yeah. Aloha, chair and members. I'm Scott Murashige, Division Administrator for the Department of Human Services, on behalf of our Director, Ryan Yamane. The department stands on our written comments and defers to ETS, and we're available for questions. Thank you.

Thank you. We have three testimonies in support, zero with opposition, and two with comments. Is there any other testifiers in person in Zoom? With none, members, do you have any questions? I actually do have a question. Christine, could you come up, please?

Yes. Yes, Chair.

Is there any standards that your department or organization adopted regarding, like, these portals that's being created in different departments?

I'm just curious because I'm sure there's been a lot of different ones, and they seem all unique.

Yes. We do—one of the big roles that ETS provides is we provide IT governance across enterprise services. So, we work to create standards and guidelines that, in partnership with the departments, to adhere to. So, cybersecurity standards and policies is one of them.

We have also, through our Chief Data Officer, created a series of data sharing standards, data governance—well, actually their guidelines. And so, we, we—those guidelines are developed through the Data Task Force, and then, they're distributed to the departments to, you know, adhere to and support. And so, that's some of the examples that we that we can provide about guidelines.

Does this department create any MOA or MOU with you when they create these portals, or do they only consult with you and then you're hands off after that?

That's a—it's a good question, and I think it depends on, you know, certain use cases. You know, ETS does host the, the state's web portals, you know, so it has kind of a common look and feel. We work with a major vendor to support that. And so, we try our best to provide those standards. When it comes to data exchange and data sharing, if we are a part of that, then we, we offer input on enterprise data sharing.

Otherwise, a lot of the departments have their own data sharing agreements between the departments and programs they wanna share with. And that can be a challenge because every department might interpret data sharing differently depending on their requirements. And, you know, the federal departments ask for different things. You know, there's sensitive information in different ways. And so, you know, we try to work with the departments to enable data sharing, have common data sharing agreements.

Thank you. I, I just wanna thank Human Services Department for their proactive approach in reaching out to ETS because I've been experiencing other departments just doing it on their own without any sort of collaboration. So, thank you for...

Big advocates of that. Thank you. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

We are finished here. I'll just say that when we resume, you are taking over as Chair.

I'm gonna take over from chair. Are there any further testifiers in 2114? Okay. Thank you very much. Moving then to HB 1859, HD 1, this is related to workforce development.

For this measure, we have 20 testifiers in support, none in opposition, two with comments. Would anyone like to add anything to your written testimony? Please.

Good morning, Chair, Vice Chair, members of the Committee. I'm Matt Stevens. I'm Executive Director of the Hawaii Workforce Funders Collaborative and the Convener of the Learn, Work, Thrive, HUI, a cross-sector coalition dedicated to creating workforce opportunity over the next two decades. I would like—I stand in strong support of this bill. I'd like to expand on a couple issues.

This bill matters because our workforce challenge is fundamentally tied to our state's economic development challenge. The report that came out from UHERO last week confirms what our workforce data has shown for years that even after adjusting for cost of living, wages and purchasing power really make us one of the weaker economies in the country. We don't have enough living wage jobs projected for the next generation to have hope that they can thrive here in Hawaii.

Our numbers show that a 170,000 young people will enter the workforce over the next decade, but we're projecting just 101,000 living wage job openings over that same time period, a gap of about 40%. Addressing this persistent structural challenge will require the coordination of three interrelated lines of work.

First, we need to ensure clear pathways to the living wage jobs we know about. Second, we need to grow our economy to create more living wage jobs, consistent with the kinds of recommendations we're seeing from UHERO. And third, we need to improve job quality. In our conversations with residents across the state, job quality in Hawaii is something that allows someone to remain here. They earn enough to remain here, fulfill commitments to their family and community, and maintain good physical and mental health.

If our economy can't provide the prospect of these type of jobs, people will have to make that difficult decision to leave. And so, the final observation I'll make is that when you review today's testimony, you'll see a variety of stakeholders describing the bill through their own lens, but a common language and a common narrative for how we untangle this persistent structural workforce challenge is starting to emerge, and that doesn't just happen by accident. That happens when stakeholders align around a shared long-term goal.

And HB 1859 provides that durable public infrastructure to hold that alignment over time.

And so, for these reasons, I urge your support in this bill. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Any other? Please.

Aloha, Chair Ilagan and Vice Chair Hussey and members of the committee. I'm Justina Acevedo-Cross, in for Terry George at the Hawaii Community Foundation, and we're standing in strong support of this bill.

We have been part of the Hawaii workforce funders collaborative and really a philanthropic partner in this space because we recognize that the—from an economic development perspective, this bill would play an important role in not being just a stand-alone issue but really bring partners together so that we can have that core economic infrastructure going forward.

That generational commitment to how we solve workforce issues isn't coming from just one channel, and we've seen through our work investing in other kinds of initiatives that when you can agree on common goals and you bring the right partners together—publicly and privately—you actually can solve this long term and have that durable—that durable reinforcement of how we can really have an economy where we don't have our young people choosing to move to the continent when they really want to stay here.

So mahalo, and I just urge you to pass this bill.

Thank you very much. Anyone else? One second. Sure.

Aloha, chair, vice chair, members of the committee. Matt Pearlberg on behalf of Holomua Collaborative, local nonprofit founded to give local working families hope that they can afford to stay in Hawaii. We are in strong support of this bill, very much echoing the comments that Hawaii Workforce Funders Collaborative and the Hawaii Community Foundation said.

Just to piggyback a tad, I want to highlight the fact that a lot of the folks in the workforce development space right now are doing wonderful work, whether it be DLIR, P20, UH, DOE, the various nonprofits, DBEDT. Even for-profit businesses are doing a lot of great work, but a lot of the work that is being done is either short-term goal focused or focused very much in a smaller silo.

And there is conversation and there is communication, but no one is facilitating the alignment between these organizations. As Matt from Workforce Funders Collaborative said, there are a projected 170,000 jobs we're going to need—living wage jobs—in order to keep our local working families here, and having a singular unified goal that folks can work towards, where everyone is working in the same space to ensure that no efforts are being duplicated, we'll make sure that we are going to have the jobs that are taking need. Mahalo.

Thank you very much. Erica, did you?

Aloha, chair, vice chair, committees of the committee. My name is Erica Nakanishi-Stanis with HawaiiKidsCAN. Last year, I appeared before you with a baby in a stroller. Apologies.

He's now at daycare. Thank goodness. But we asked you to pass a bill, act, SB 742, which turned into act 154. This put us on the path of creating a sustainable statewide agency data sharing plan under the leadership of ETS. Thank you for that beautiful first step.

This step is just as important because it allows us to create a durable long term plan informed by the data gathered under Act 154 to align a wide range of stakeholders.

Last year, one of the most encouraging things about SB 742 was the groundswell of support that came over the various rounds of hearings. And you see that happening again with this bill. And that speaks to a need across sectors, across stakeholders to come together and convene.

It just makes sense to keep talking and to build a plan that outlasts administrations, outlasts state unified workforce plans, and looks 20 years to the future because that's how students consider their careers.

If nothing else I would please ask you, please read Angela Chalk's testimony. As the voice of a young person in this state who is actively thinking about her future, I think her words speak volumes. Thank you for the opportunity to testify.

Thank you. Any further testifiers? Okay.

Do we have any questions from our committee members? Very good. Okay. Moving on then to the next measure, HB 2534, HD 1, related to robotics. For this measure, we have 26 in support, one in opposition, one with comments.

And I want to note that we have a bunch of young people in the House today to hopefully testify on this measure, and I would encourage you all to get up and speak, if you feel so moved. Would anyone like to add to your written testimony or to speak? Please.

Aloha, Chair Ilagan, aloha, Vice Chair Hussey, and members of the committee. My name is Joshua Tom, and I am with Team 871 Sabre Dynamics, a part of James Campbell High School. I would just like to add on some additional information to my written testimony as well as bringing a couple of points that we noticed were some of the concerns brought by the DOE and with the opposition.

First and foremost, I'd like to mention that recognizing robotics as a sport will bring and build pipelines directly from elementary to college and into the workforce.

These programs do go a long, long way into creating not only job opportunities, but creating interest, especially in our young keiki, who we've noticed to—if we cut off these types of career engagement—engaging—programs, they end up losing that passion later on down the road, and they don't typically end up rejoining these programs or don't typically end up going into the workforce.

We'd like to mention that at James Campbell, our robotics team has a 100% graduation rate and a 100% four-year accredited university attendance from our team. We'd also like to mention some of the other information by some other teams like the Kauai Robotics Alliance, which represents all three high schools on Kauai Island. They actually created the RoboRio or one of the boards that connects to the RoboRio, and this is one of the technology equipment used for the past couple of years, and they've been—it's used globally, so not only do teams from Hawaii use it, but teams across the entire world end up buying these types of boards that will support their robots, which shows how large the industry can grow, especially just here on in Hawaii.

In terms of some other—some other concerns that were brought on to us—we do wanna emphasize that bringing robotics as a sport does recognize directly the mentors and the competition levels.

Back in 2016, we used to host—Hawaii used to host the Bexpan Pacific, which brought in 150 teams from not only Hawaii, but from Asia and the Mainland, as well as Hawaii regionals, which brings in teams from Australia, China, and Taiwan. These types of tournaments do bring in large-scale competitiveness. However, we do also wanna recognize our local-based teams and give them the opportunities that they deserve to succeed in these pathways.

Majority of tournaments are very Hawaii-focused with Hawaii teams competing in them. And we'd also like to mention Mr. Michael Cola, who did write testimony as well. He is the president of the Hawaii First Robotics Alliance. And we noticed that with the DOE, their main concern was having support with the—with recognizing robots as a sport. HFR, as well as Hawaii VEX Alliance Associations, will be able to help the DOE with appropriations.

We also do recognize the support that it brings students, especially students who may not be able to physically participate in sports due to health conditions or other prior concerns.

We'd also like to mention the Arizona Interscholastic Association and the Minnesota State High School League, which also recognize robotics as a sport, as well as the Texas UIL and the Connecticut's High School League. These programs are the first two programs to recognize robotics across the entire United States, which would be the Arizona Interscholastic League Association and the Minnesota State High School League.

And they really focus on bringing scholarships and other types of opportunities for high school students going into the workforce, that is desperately needed here in Hawaii. We'd also like to mention how CTE somewhat limits the recognition for students. A lot of CTE competitive competitions do actually require students to have either taking classes in some types of workforce development classes or are specifically tied to academies with schools that have academy systems.

And we'd like to mention that robotics does require more than just engineers, more than just coders. We require people who can write, people who are good with social media, people who are good across all different levels and all different fields and aspects, even—especially some of the students here today who haven't taken engineering classes or computer science classes, but are still integral parts of their team. It also does go further into building a newer appreciation and love for engineering or other types of careers.

I know one of our students wanted to go into health care, but they have now reevaluated their decisions after going into robotics and wants to become a bioengineer. So, it is a very great program, and we do believe that further recognition as a sport will bring a lot more jobs and careers here to the state of Hawaii. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Good job.

Mr. Chair, Vice Chair, honorable delegates of the committee. My name is a Tate. I'm also from James Campbell High School. I am the President of Saber Dynamics, our robotics team there.

I'd like to speak in support of this bill. Likewise, to a lot of the points that Mr. Tom made. I believe that passing this bill and recognizing robotics as a sport would be extremely beneficial for not only students, but the upcoming industry. We do have a lot of issues with the...trade in Hawaii, which is mainly brought on by a lack of opportunity.

I personally—when I moved here, I became a part of my robotics team at my elementary school and then had a three-year gap between elementary and middle school in which that middle school did not have a robotics team. In that time, I ended up getting shoveled kind of into the computer science pathway, which—I do love computer science, I'm one of the main coders on our team, but upon going to returning to high school and returning to the robotics field and joining the team, I realized that I still deeply loved engineering and mechanical engineering, which is what I'm going to be pursuing in college.

But unfortunately, I am one of the people who will be moving to the Mainland because of just a general lack of opportunity in the state and certain programs that just aren't available because of the fact that a lot of students cannot or do not recognize that robotics or engineering or mechanical engineering are things that they can do because they don't have the experiences appropriated to them through school.

A lot of kids that we see in the ROAR Program—which is something our team does monthly, where we invite kids from the community to come and learn about certain things stem-related—a lot of the time we see kids who have either been slightly exposed to certain things scientifically, and then, suddenly, they're amazed by something that maybe people are—in high school would seem or deem as relatively basic because they have not learned about it because they have not had the chance to learn about it.

But by having this accessibility, or even just the chance to learn about stuff like this, they're extremely blown away because it's not something that they've ever thought about before, or it's not something that they've been able to think about before. So, just recognizing it as a sport would likely make it more accessible for students and make it more widespread. We have a lot of middle schools in the area that do not have—I think two are two direct feeder schools.

One of them does not have a robotics team.

One of them has only had their team for two years now, and a good majority of the elementaries that do feed into our high school likewise do not have one, as well as certain high schools have had to drop their team because their mentors could not do it anymore because they weren't being paid for it, or just an issue with hours in school.

So, we're actively seeing a certain regression in terms of robotics where what we should hopefully be seeing in terms of in a world where we're continuing to get more and more technical is progression. So, we are hoping that this bill will be passed and these opportunities will be afforded to everybody in the state of Hawaii and hopefully move forward and to create better opportunities for them.

I will yield to any questions. Thank you.

Thank you. Any other testifiers?

Aloha chair. Aloha, chair, vice chair, members of the committee. My name is Danielle Nicole-Coloma, and I am a senior at James Campbell High School. I'm here to today to express my support for the passage of Bill HB 2534. So, like Ai Tate, my experience started—with robotics—started at an early age in elementary school where I started off with Lego robotics, which was pretty fulfilling and soon fostered my passion for architecture, which is something that I intend to pursue in college.

But as I started my years at Evan McKay Middle School, I found out there wasn't many STEM programs available to me, and I did not have the resources to support my STEM experience. And unfortunately, like lots of people, my experience is not unique. Many schools across Hawaii do not offer robotics or other STEM programs, leaving many students without access to these valuable opportunities.

And in this age of technology, we must adapt to the growing demand for STEM-related occupations and the assumed skills that come with them. Here in Hawaii, STEM fields are growing rapidly.

In the Georgetown University Report, they project a 14% increase in STEM careers, bringing the total to 33,000 jobs in Hawaii. Science-related fields dominate the top majors in in terms of potential earnings with engineering, natural science, physics, instruction, and computer science, all within the top 10. According to the Economic Research Organization at the University of Oahu, not only does robotics foster a deeper conceptual understanding of mathematics, physics, electronics, and coding literacy, it also develops early development for soft skills widely used across all careers.

Many students in robotics program have just demonstrated greater leadership, teamwork, and adaptability. A lot of states have already declared robotics as a sport, including Arizona, Connecticut, Texas, and Minnesota.

Connecticut has seen significant profits from this action, driven by for inspiration and recognition of Science and Technology First, a global nonprofit organization known for its team-based robotics programs. The state is in the 75th percentile of workers with a bachelor's degree or higher in STEM occupations. Declaring robotics as a sport and allocating more funding for its programs will not only open up more opportunities for aspiring members, but also grant faculty and students the recognition they deserve for their dedication, as in any other sport.

So, in the fall, I'll be majoring in architecture at the University of Pennsylvania.

Words cannot describe my excitement for this new chapter of my life and STEM programs, like robotics, have made me who I am today. If more students across Hawaii had access to these opportunities, I'm confident that many would also discover new passions, develop valuable skills, and set themselves on a path toward future academic and career success. The lengthy benefits of scholastic robotics programs warrant more recognition for the sake of our youth, and I urge you to pass this bill.

Mahalo for your time.

Thank you very much. Anybody else?

Aloha chair, vice chair, and the rest of the committee. My name is Katie Ta, and I'm a junior at Kalani High School, and I'm also the Captain of our robotics team. To add on to what my peers said, I actually share from a different experience of them because I never had robotics going up into high school, and I only joined because my friend told me to.

So, if I had never had this experience of, like, my friend telling me to do this, I wouldn't have been able to basically change the trajectory of my life. Robotics has given me a bunch of experiences that I would not have had if I had joined other clubs or continued doing my sports, which I did have to unfortunately quit, but robotics has given me the opportunity to not only lead my team, but also lead community initiatives and also learn about my passion in STEM.

I used to, in middle school, wanted to become a lawyer, which is not a bad thing, but now I do wanna dual major in mechanical engineering and education to be able to work with the future generations of Hawaii and work with them to be able to grow their interest in STEM and their passion.

I would also like to point out some important, like, numbers to—about why funding is so important here in Hawaii. As my peers mentioned, not only does STEM and robot robotics programs help with workforce development and also support the future careers of students in STEM, it also supports all the other skills—marketing, business, even just lifelong soft skills like communication, presenting, leadership.

It's really important. And we have students that wanna be politicians, wanna be educators, want to be entrepreneurs. It's not just the engineers of our community as well. Under Governor Linda Lingle, in the early 2000s, around 100—not 100, around 1,000,000—was allocated to robotics funding for the first robotics competition.

And at that time, we had two hundred First Lego League teams, which are basically the teams that are for younger students in elementary and middle school. And in present day, we currently have 50. So, that number has dropped by 150 teams, and that kind of roughly estimate to around, around 3,000 students involved. Also, our, our island teams who compete in robotics, some of them do not have the funding and cannot afford to travel to Oahu where all of our robotics competitions are hosted.

So, without this funding, they can't really compete, no matter how much they spend their time and dedication into creating their robots.

And also, just to paint another picture about how much of a commitment robotics is and how much, like, time students actually spend in robotics, all of us are currently here right now, but there are teams that meet up to seven days a week. And, for example, my team today, even though today is technically a holiday for us and we don't have school, I have robotics from ten to seven p—10 AM to 7 PM.

So, I'll be going there after this, but it's a huge commitment, and students dedicate hours to this and dedicate hours to their future and improving the local Hawaii community, because not only do we work on engineering our robots and doing all the stuff related to the technology, but we also have started community programs as, the camp—Campbell—team has mentioned. They do weekly programs with students and see their engagement.

My team also does weekly programs. We also run one—like monthly caps with the YMCA and city and county of Honolulu as well. So, but being able to fund robotics, we're funding future opportunities, not for just the high school students or just for the people that are already in robotics, it's for the people that wanna learn about their passions too. Mahalo for hearing us and thank you.

Yeah.

Thank you very much. Any further testifiers? Okay.

Good morning, chair and vice chair and representatives of the committee. I'll keep my testimony short because I think there's still more people that wanna testify. I stand by my written testimony. I would like to add on and emphasize some points. In my testimony, I wrote that I am working as, like, a working individual of this—the workforce. I'm a welder and machinist.

Oh, I'm a—introduce myself. I'm Colin Yeo. I'm a junior in high school at Leisure Den. I'm part of Team 9019, and we work with schools from around the Windward Side because we're the only robotics team on the Windward Side, actually. So, we work with the public schools as Leisure Den is a private school.

We work to increase the STEM participation in the Windward Side. So, I, as a welder and machinist, I think that robotics has changed my life. Like, I don't—without robotics, I don't think I would have had any of these opportunities in—of working in Hawaii in these specific jobs at least, and robotics has really given me a view into the real world because it is so similar, if not exactly the same as working in the real workforce.

In my testimony, I wrote that I work after school in robotics from three to nine.

So, that's a six hour day, and that's generally what I would see in, like, a real world scenario or something similar to that. And I think that it being a sport would help facilitate that because you can have more recognition and funding for mentors and people that would help you learn those skills, rather than having to teach it to yourself, which is what I had to do.

And that was something that I struggled with because I did—my school does not necessarily have engineering or computer science class that is up to the rigor that robotics requires. Yeah. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Anybody else?

Chair, Vice Chair, members of the Committee, my name is Jackson Slodnick Page. I am a junior at Leisure Den Academy, and I am in strong support of Bill HB 2534 and its efforts to establish robotics as an inter—an interschlastic sport. I just wanna speak briefly about my personal experiences. So, I'm the Co-Team Captain for team—Team 9019...Robotics, which, as aforementioned, is a community team on the Windward Side.

We take students mainly from Kailua High School, Kalaheo High School, and Playa Cheonam Academy. So, I've been doing robotics since I was in second grade with FLL, First Lego League, and it's very saddening to—as I'm sure you've heard—that many of those teams are in decline. But now that I'm in eleventh grade, I, as I said, I'm the Co-Team Captain for Team 9019...Robotics. Robotics has definitely been the most impactful part of my academic life so far.

It has caused me to wanna pursue a career in software development.

It wants—it has caused me to wanna go into STEM. But also, arguably more importantly for right now, it's given me technical skills and leadership skills that I utilize to impact my community almost every single day through the community outreach that we, as local robotics teams, put on. Different teams do different things. Other—some teams do STEM camps. I know we focus on STEM education with lower school kids who, because of the decline of FLL, may not have those opportunities.

In my time, I've seen countless students, much like myself, discover their passion for STEM through the medium of robotics, but we are facing a lot of challenges, and we definitely need help, frankly. One of the main challenges we face in expanding our impact or even just maintaining our impact is a lack of consistent funding and a lack of mentorship. In my personal experience, robotics mentors stay later than almost any other educator, oftentimes till 9:00 or 10:00 at night.

But these mentors are oftentimes not paid or not fully paid for these hours. But by establishing robotics as a sport, we would help address that. Thank you for the opportunity to testify.

Thank you. Please.

Chair, Vice Chair, and committee, my name is Andrew Beauvoir. I'm a sophomore at James Campbell High School and a member of 8871 Saber Dynamics, and I wanna talk to you about my personal connection and profound impact robotics has had on my life.

Since I was pretty young, in elementary, I was a part of the Cameo Elementary Robotics Team for three years, and it's overall shaped my academic journey as I wanna pursue biochem engineering after high school. And this was—this wasn't always the case as my family always wanted me to go into healthcare and I haven't been exposed to the world of robotics.

But ever since I joined the robotics team and also now, it's overall shaped my view on the road and being able to pursue engineering outside of high school. Yima Robotics Team—Yima, Yima Intermediate also had a robotics program, but it was shut down due to lack of mentorship because they weren't getting paid the funds to keep the program running.

And doing this, a lot of robotics advisors spend a lot of time and dedication. just like my peers said, to help us students in pursuing and overall having a positive impact on our education and also seeing—taking time out of their day to help us. And a lot of time and commitment is made through robotics, and we wanna have a lot of robotic—sorry.

We wanna have robotics up and running through—all throughout Hawaii—and being able to do this can also help with the STEM education and also our—a lot of our younger generation to grow older and pursue a STEM. STEM major outside of high school. Ewa Beach isn't the only area facing this issue, as Farrington High School is also out of the team. ...Elementary, which is also facing the same issue, issue, but they also won an—won an award at...MacKay competition.

We also have...Elementary within Ewa Beach, which all had won an award this past school year. Holomua Elementary has qualified for the national level, which means you will be competing at the national competition at South Korea. And also, Nanakui High School, Wai'anae Elementary teams, and McKinney and Kamehameha all out of teams, and this is also due to the lack of funding and mentorship, and I strongly urge you guys to push for this bill to be passed. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Okay. Anybody else?

Good morning, chair, vice chair, and chair committee. My name is Tyrone Ho from James Campbell High School, and like a lot of my peers—well, me personally, I went to Air Quest Point Elementary School, and we weren't provided any robotics opportunities. And I always kinda looked up to robotics, especially seeing some shows on TV, and I always wanted to be a part of a team, but I was never given the opportunity to join one.

So, I kinda lost passion for it, as I never had the opportunity to try it out.

But as of recently, parents from Iroquois Point Elementary have given their kids opportunities to participate in robotics by starting a garage team where, where parents use their money to help their children participate in robotics, and I don't think we should have to come where parents are the people providing these opportunities. I think schools and communities should be the ones to do this because it will help Hawaii's industry and STEM, so—sorry. So, I volunteered at...Point Elementary, the garage team, Kaimiloa, and Holomua, and when I volunteered, every kid I've talked to and seen, I could see a lot of passion and genuine interest in robotics, and I don't want that passion to go away in middle school.

As you can see, there's a common occurrence in middle school where they just lose passion for robotics because it's not given to them.

And I just think that when we pass this bill, it will give more funding to middle schools and carry on that passion—or hopefully carry it on—into college and into the future careers to give Hawaii a bit a bigger industry and STEM and overall grow it. Sorry. But yeah.

So, like I said, there's no teams in...so, a lot of people lose passion, and like many of my others, they, they only had it in high school or they had it in elementary, but they lost the passion or they didn't have the opportunity to do it during middle school. So, like one of them, I joined because of Lance and because I was—kinda wanted to be a part of a team.

So, it helped me kinda decide what I wanted to do in the future because for our VEX team, I was the programmer, and now in the future, I do wanna pursue programming. I'm taking AP Programming, and I hope to do software development or something relating to that, and.

Yes.

Sorry, but Hawaii is a very competitive state as we know, especially with our sports and football. And I just think we should not only compete, or we should take robotics as a sport to, to be very competitive with that.

And I think if we can be very good at tourism and STEM industry, it would just make Hawaii look better and keep the smart people from robotics and other places come here to work for us and not leave to go to the Mainland and work for other people. And, yeah, that's it.

Got it. Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay. Any other testifiers?

Okay. Would any adults like to testify? I know, hard hat to follow. Exactly. Alright.

Thank you all very much to all of our students for being here and sharing your thoughts. We really appreciate it. Are there any questions from our committee?

Not a question, just a comment.

Please.

Like to thank each of the students for coming here today. You guys are the future leaders of Hawaii. Thank you so much for coming and being part of the legislative process. It's really inspiring. Thank you.

Yeah. Mahalo nui. Okay. Any other questions? Comments? Chair.

Alright. Very good. Alright. Thank you very much. That was HB 2534.

How about a hand for the no. Okay. Yeah. Next measure is HB 2474 relating to international relations. We have one testimony in support from Dennis Ling.

Would you like to add anything to your written? Okay.

Yeah. Aloha chair, vice chair, committee members, just standing on our written.

Very good. Thanks. Would anyone else like to testify on this measure? Okay. Any questions from our committee?

Alright. Next measure is HB 1863. 1863 relating to an honorary ambassador to Canada. We have three testifiers who submitted testimony to in support, one in opposition. Would anyone like to add anything to your testimony or to speak in this measure?

Okay. Are there any questions for our committee? Okay. Next measure is HB 2475, and this is our last item for today, relating to labeling requirements. We have 17 testifiers in support, four in opposition, zero with comments.

Would anyone like to add anything to your testimony? Feel free to speak. Very good.

Aloha, Chair, Vice Chair, members of the committee. Thank you so much for hearing this bill today. My name is Naehalani Breeland. I'm the president and cofounder of Ola Brew and Distillery. Our mission has always been to support the growth of Hawaii's agricultural economy.

By doing so, we source ingredients from Hawaii and add them into our beverages. And since we've opened, to date, we've sourced over $4,000,000 that have gone back into Hawaii's economy and create a more circular economy. I just wanted to add to my testimony a quick story and then a little bit of history. Five years ago, we entered our first into the San Francisco World Spirits Competition, really just to get some notes from the judges, right?

We didn't have a bottle. So naturally, we entered ours in a plastic jug with some blue construction tape on it saying FDA approved. Enjoy. It was the laughingstock of the competition at first. And then during the blind tastings, the plastic jug kept advancing round after round.

And at the end, we won a double gold and best in class at the largest spirits competition in the world. Since then, we've earned 74 international awards. This is the first time that has stood on a world stage since 1893, at the Chicago World Fair representing Hawaii, and before that, the Paris Exposition in 1889, also representing Hawaii. For over 130 years, no one had made an authentic 100% Hawaii grown, key based.

But this spirit story goes back way further.

Okolehao was a word derived from -- meaning the steel bottom, began with a key plant baked in an imu, fermented naturally, and distilled in iron pots in the late 1700s. In 1889, it won international recognition in Paris. In 1940, it was recognized by the US government as its own category of spirits. In 1968, Senator Spark Matsunaga entered it into the congressional record. And in 1984, it was mentioned in a Supreme Court case, though it was misclassified as a brandy.

That misclassification tells us something important. Because Okolehao has never had a clear legal definition, it has been diluted, misrepresented, and commercialized in ways that have erased our agricultural and cultural foundation. In HB 2475, it mentions that through clarity of a definition, industries thrive, and defining our Hawaii spirit creates the foundation. When we do not protect something unique in Hawaii, it doesn't scale. It gets co-opted.

As I mentioned in my written testimony, we've seen this before with Kona Coffee. HB 2475 ensures that does not happen again. By defining Okolehao, we anchor value here. That means expanded agriculture, value added manufacturing jobs, ag tourism, and a globally exportable, place based premium spirit.

This is not about creating something new. It's about safeguarding the 230-year-old spirit of Hawaii that is finally reemerging onto the world stage. If we act now, we protect the heritage, the agriculture, and the economic upside here at home. If we wait, history shows us what happens. Mahalo for hearing HB 2475.

Thank you very much. Any other testifiers on this measure? Oh, I'm sorry.

Go ahead, please.

Good morning, Chair, Vice Chair, members of the committee. My name is Marshall Fawley. I am with Lerman Beverage Law, and I have been assisting Ola Brew on the federal side of petitioning the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, or TTB, for a standard of identity to recognize Okolehao at the federal level. And I've submitted testimony in writing, and I stand by that testimony. But there was one other point I wanted to bring to the committee, and then open myself up to questions that anyone may have.

Anytime you read a news story lately, you hear a lot about spirit sales declining. Fewer people are drinking. More people are going towards nonalcoholic products. And to me, one of the things that that means is that they're being more selective in where they're spending their discretionary funds. When you have a product that is unique, is authentic to a specific place, and has clear definitions so consumers know what they're getting.

They're more likely to purchase that product than a product that they really don't know what it is. And that is a tool that I think Hawaii and these wonderful producers in the state can use to capture a greater amount of that discretionary consumer spending. And just to kind of underscore that, I looked at approved labels that TTB has had since 01/01/2015. There are nine for products calling themselves Okolehao. Of those nine products, they are described wildly.

Several are described as rums. Some are just described as spirits. One is even a blend of bourbon, whiskey, rum, and spirits distilled from cane and tea root. So you have this amalgam of ingredients there that, you know, to my taste, I don't know if that's something I would want to spend my money on. I don't know how that's going to taste.

If there was a standard for Okolehao, and myself as a consumer knew what that meant, I would be more willing to buy that product. And I think consumers all over the world would be more willing to buy that product. With that, I open it to any questions the committee may have.

Thank you very much. Any other testifiers? Okay. Any questions from the committee? Okay. With that, I think we can recess.

We are back from recess, and we are going to start at the top of the agenda. At this time, we have HB 1813, and this bill broadens the tax base by reducing selective tax exemptions. Chair's recommendation is to defer the effective date to year 3000, technical amendments for purpose of clarity, consistency, and style. Members, any questions? No questions.

Vice Chair, please take the vote.

[Roll Call]

Chair, the recommendation is adopted.

Thank you, vice chair. Moving on to HB 2429. This bill improves transparency and accountability by requiring disclosures for tax credits and exemptions. We're gonna defect the effective date to year 3,000 technical amendments for purpose of clarity, consistency, and style. Members, any questions?

No questions. Vice chair, please take the vote.

K. We're voting on HB 2429. Recommendation is to pass with amendments. Any votes in opposition? Any votes of reservation?

Chair the recommendation. I'm sorry? A reservation. Thank you. Representative Gedeon.

Noted. Any other notations? Okay. Chair the recommendation is adopted.

Thank you, vice chair. Moving on to HB 2423. This bill advances cleaner transportation by requiring a minimum biodiesel blend in on highway diesel fuel. Chair recommends that DBEDT shall also report to the legislature of this plan, technical amendments for purpose of clarity, consistency, and style. Members, any questions? No questions. Vice chair, please take the vote.

Okay. We're on 2423 HD1. Recommendations to pass with amendments. Any votes in opposition?

Any reservations? Chair, the recommendation is adopted.

Thank you, vice chair. We are moving on to HB 1996, HD1. This bill improves access to hearing care by exempting hearing aid sales from GT. We're gonna move this bill as is. Members, any questions?

With no questions, vice chair, please take the vote. Okay.

[Roll Call]

Thank you, vice chair. Moving on to HB 1851. HD1. This bill supports workforce development by creating a tax credit for apprenticeship program costs. Chair recommends capping the tax credit at 1,500,000 per taxable year.

Chair recommends sunsetting the program on 12/31/2036. Chair recommends to add DOTAX second recommendation under their testimony to clarify that the taxpayer who is claiming the credit must incur expenses. Technical amendments for the purpose of clarity, consistency, and style. Members, any questions? With no questions, vice chair, please take the vote.

You are on HB 1851 HD1. Recommendations to pass the bill with amendments. Any votes in opposition? Any reservations? Chair, the measure is adopted. The recommendations is adopted.

Thank you, Vice Chair. Moving on to HB 2546. This bill strengthens Hawaii's research tax credit by restoring full eligibility for qualified research expenses. Chair recommends to add language in regards to allow this act to restore refundability. Chair recommends to add language to adopt pro rata distribution of this tax credit.

Chair recommends to apply retroactively to the 2025 tax year. We're going to defect the effective date to year 3000. The technical amendments for the purpose of clarity, consistency, and style. I should have stated this in the beginning, but I just want to remind the public that changing the effective date to the defective year, such as 3000, allows the House to continue working on changes in conferences as the bill advances forward. Just in case you're all wondering why we're changing it to 3000.

Thank you. Moving on. Okay. Go ahead.

You have other amendment?

Nope. That's it.

Can I comment? Yes. Okay. So my concern with this bill is that it goes beyond what the federal credit does. So the federal credit is new R&D going forward.

Right? And what this credit does is it tries to fund them ongoing, which I understand. Right? We all support tech and these kinds of things, but the feds did that intentionally because what they're trying to do is encourage new development. So, right, new R&D.

And if our state's limited resources are put into existing, that might limit the testifier from HTDC said that, you know, it's kind of a first come, first serve and those kinds of things. But when you make it open to ongoing R&D, then that's what kind of limits it instead of new R&D. So that's my concern with this bill going forward.

Also, I think frankly, if it's going to be ongoing, I would rather it be in a grant in aid form where under 42F.

Thank you, Rep. Any other members?

But I'll support you with the meeting just for further discussion. Thank you.

Thank you. Alright. Vice Chair, please take the vote.

Okay. HB 2546. Recommendations to pass with amendments. Any votes in opposition? Any reservations?

Chair, the recommendation is adopted.

Thank you. We are gonna move on to HB 2028. This bill supports construction workers and responsible employers by creating a tax credit for providing paid labor daily. Chair recommends to defer this bill due to it being inconsistent with collective bargaining principles. I just wanna note that the ECD committee passed bills to lower cost of living and hope we can address those issues and those bills as mentioned in the testifier.

We are gonna move on to HB 2583. This bill helps small business access access to financing, and we are going to defect the effective date to year three thousand technical amendments for the purpose of clarity and consistency and style. Members, any questions? No questions? Vice chair, please take the vote.

Alright. We're voting on HB 2583, recommendations to pass the bill with amendments. Any opposition? Any reservations? Recommendation is adopted.

Thank you, Vice Chair. We are gonna move on to HB 2490, HD 1. This bill protects the Montokuji Bay by creating a five year coastal resilience pilot. Chair recommends to add language to address concerns raised by the State Historic Preservation Division regarding the treatment of Iwi Kupuna that may be discovered during coastal restoration activities conducted under the pilot program. These amendments ensures that any such discoveries receive the full protections of the burial council oversight and descendant consultation.

We also got a defect effective date to year 3000, technical amendments for for purpose of clarity, consistency, and style. Members, any questions? No questions. Vice chair, please take the vote.

Okay. We're voting HB 2490 HD 1. Recommendation is to pass the bill with amendments. Any votes in opposition? Any reservations?

Olay. The recommendation is adopted.

Thank you. We are gonna move on to HB 2545. This bill helps diversify Hawaii's economy by supporting small business innovation. Chair recommends to defect the effective date to year 3000 technical amendments for the purpose of clarity, consistency, and style. Members, any questions?

No questions, vice chair, please take the vote.

Voting on HB 2545, recommendations to pass the bill with amendments. Any opposition? Any reservations? Recommendation is adopted.

Thank you, vice chair. We are gonna move on to HB 2114, HD 1. This bill makes government services easier to access by creating a Hawaii benefits hub and advancing a single statewide service portal. Chair recommends to move this as is.

Members, any questions? No questions. Vice chair, please take the vote.

Okay. We're voting HB 2114 HD 1. Recommendations pass as is. Any votes in opposition? Any reservations?

The recommendation is adopted.

Thank you, vice chair. Moving on to HB 1859. This bill strengthens Hawaii's workforce system by requiring one coordinated statewide strategy. Chair is gonna recommend that we move this as is. Members, any questions?

No questions. Vice chair, please take the vote.

Okay. We're on HB 1859 HD 1. Recommendation is to pass as is. Any votes in opposition? Any reservations?

The recommendation is adopted.

Thank you, vice chair. We are gonna move on to HB 2534 HD1. This bill invests in student opportunity by funding robotics as the interscholastic sport. Chair's recommendation is to pass as is. Before we go and move into questions, I just wanna recognize representative Ray Zoda for her work on this bill and making this happen.

Thank you. Members, any questions?

Chair, just a comment.

Go ahead.

Yeah. Thank you. So, twenty years ago when I chaired this committee, many of the foundational pieces that started this robotic program was established, during that time. And, you know, and, so I I always supported this and believed in it.

It's kind of sad to hear the testifier saying that, it is not growing as fast as, I hoped it to be at that time. But, you know, I I appreciate the all the testifiers coming forward to connect with this. It's an important issue. Thank you.

Thank you.

Alright. And for the students, if you ever decide not to go into robotics, I think there's an opportunity to be a lobbyist in government because you did really well. Alright. Moving on, Vice chair, please take the vote. Okay.

HB 2534 HD 1 passing as is. Any notes? Any reservations? Recommendations adopted.

Thank you, vice chair. Moving on to HB 2474. This bill helps Hawaii build stronger global relationships by allowing nonbinding international partnerships. We're gonna defect the effective date to year 3,000 technical amendment for the purpose of clarity, consistency, and style. Members, any questions?

With no questions, vice chair, please take the vote.

Voting on HB 2474, recommendation passed with amendments. Any votes in opposition? Any reservations? The recommendation is adopted.

Thank you, vice chair. Moving on to HB 1863. This bill expands Hawaii's economic and cultural ties with Canada. We've got no defect effective date to year 3000 technical amendments for the purpose of clarity, consistency, and style. Members, any questions?

With no questions, vice chair, please take the vote.

Okay. HB 1863, recommendations to pass with amendments. Any, any votes in opposition? Any, reservations? Recommendation is adopted.

Thank you, vice chair. We are on our last bill, HB 2475. This bill protects the identity integrity of. The chair recommends a defect effective date to year 3000 with technical amendments with purpose of clarity, consistency, and style. Members, any questions?

Vice Chair, please take the vote.

Okay. We're on 2475. Recommendation is to pass with amendments. Any votes in opposition? Any reservations?

Chair, the recommendation is adopted.

Thank you. This meeting is now adjourned.