Bill Text: HI SB41 | 2020 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Relating To Hawaiian Affairs.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-12-01 - Carried over to 2020 Regular Session. [SB41 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2020-SB41-Amended.html
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THE SENATE |
S.B. NO. |
41 |
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THIRTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2019 |
S.D. 1 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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A BILL FOR AN ACT
RELATING TO HAWAIIAN AFFAIRS.
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 Hawai‘i through its ongoing work to study,
preserve, perpetuate, and share Hawai‘i's natural and cultural history. It was officially designated as the State of
Hawaii Museum of Natural and Cultural History by the Hawai‘i 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 Hawai‘i and the Pacific. The cultural collections contain unique and
irreplaceable materials of Hawai‘i 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
Hawai‘i'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 Hawai‘i; 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 Hawai‘i and the Pacific; served state and federal resource managers
and agencies; and produced a wide range of educational and public programs for
Hawai‘i'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 Hawai‘i. 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 Hawai‘i. The museum also
identifies all snakes and other reptiles and amphibians that are intercepted by
the State's plant quarantine officials. Museum
biologists are also working with the department of health, department of agriculture,
University of Hawai‘i, Hawai‘i 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 of Hawai‘i. 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 then operating budget, 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:
(1) Beginning with the 2021-2023 fiscal biennium, require the governor to include in the executive budget a minimum amount per fiscal year to be allocated to the State of Hawaii Museum of Natural and Cultural History; and
(2) Appropriate funds to support the work of the State of Hawaii Museum of Natural and Cultural History.
SECTION 2. Section 6E-40, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:
"§6E-40 Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum.
(a) The official
designation of the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum shall be the State of Hawaii
Museum of Natural and Cultural History.
(b)
The qualifying standards and conditions related to the receipt of funds
contained in chapter 42F shall not apply to funds received by the State of
Hawaii Museum of Natural and Cultural History; provided that if the museum in
turn contracts with a recipient or provider, then the qualifying standards,
conditions, and other provisions of chapter 42F shall apply to the recipient or
provider and the contract.
(c) Beginning with the 2021-2023 fiscal biennium, the governor shall include in the executive budget submitted to the legislature pursuant to article VII, section 8, of the Hawaii State Constitution, no less than $ per fiscal year to be allocated to the State of Hawaii Museum of Natural and Cultural History."
SECTION 3. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawai‘i the sum of $3,700,000 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 work of the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, including but not limited to collections care and student learning programs.
The sums appropriated shall be expended by the State of Hawaii Museum of Natural and Cultural History for the purposes of this Act.
SECTION 4. New statutory material is underscored.
SECTION 5. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2019.
Report Title:
Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum; State of Hawaii Museum of Natural and Cultural History; Base Budget; Appropriation
Description:
Beginning with the 2021-2023 fiscal biennium, requires the governor to include in the executive budget a minimum amount per fiscal year to be allocated to the State of Hawaii Museum of Natural and Cultural History. Appropriates funds to support the work of the State of Hawaii Museum of Natural and Cultural History. (SD1)
The summary description
of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is
not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.
