2017-03-20 Letter to Ryan I. Yamane re SB 1292 SD 2 HD 1 relating to the Hilo Community Economic District

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Ryan Yamane March 20, 2017 Page 2 The series of bills addressing economic development on State lands in Hilo (H.B. No. 575; H.B. No. 1310, H.D. 1; H.B. No. 1469, H.D. 1; and now SB No. 1292, HD1) may all have merit, and therefore we appreciate the decision of the prior committees to keep the various solutions alive for further discussion. However, this issue is so important that we cannot risk losing this bill because of a technicality. We therefore want to point out that the title of SB 1292 is "A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE HILO COMMUNITY ECONOMIC DISTRICT," while some of the language of SB1292, HD1 seems to be of statewide impact. If your attorneys do not think the language is too broad for the title, we certainly would defer to them, but we would ask that you take this into account, because we do not want to jeopardize ultimate passage of this bill. With respect to the specific provisions of the bill, I would defer to our community partners, who are directly impacted, to express their preference. But if you decide to restore the language of SB 1292, SD2, I would offer the following comments from my prior testimony on SB1292, SD2, and I am also attaching the testimony of the Hawaii County Planning Department from the earlier hearing on this bill for your consideration. 1. Should this bill (SB1292, SD2) be enacted into law, the Hilo Community Economic District (HCED) will be the only redevelopment district outside of the City and County of Honolulu. For this reason, we ask that consideration be given to providing that the District have a voting majority of members from the Hilo community. Any cultural specialist, in particular, should be a cultural practitioner from the Hilo community. 2. Financial support from State general revenues should include opportunities for staffing and facility support, through reimbursements, as may be provided by the County of Hawaii and the Banyan Drive Hawaii Redevelopment Agency (BDHRA) in support of the Banyan Drive redevelopment project. 3. We cannot afford to jeopardize or divert the real property tax revenue that comes from the affected parcels and currently goes into the County general fund (we estimate that for the properties in SB 1292, tax revenue exceeds $3M). SB 1292, SD2 says that §206E-D Hilo community economic revolving fund. (a) There is established in the state treasury the Hilo community economic revolving fund, into which shall be deposited: (1) Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, including section 206E- 16, all revenue, income, and receipts of the authority for the district; County of Hawai'i is an Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer.