2019-02-06 Letter to Clarence Nishihara & Stanley Chang re SB 1302 Relating to Natural Disasters

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(Y aF y.. Wil Okabe it � �s •, Managing Director Kim •?,1!;'^-; ff t. A/cnnr •• ---- - ' Barbara J. Kossow 4..oi % Deputy Alanaging Director County of Hawai`i Office of the Mayor 25 Aupuni Street,Suite 2603 • Hilo, Hawaii 96720 • (808)961-8211 • Fax(808)961-6553 KONA 74-5044 Ane Keohokalole Hwy, Bldg C • Kailua-Kona, Hawaii 96740 (808)323-4444 • Fax(808)323-4440 February 6, 2019 Senator Clarence K. Nishihara, Chair COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY, INTERGOVERNMENTAL AND MILITARY AFFAIRS Hawai'i State Legislature Sen. Stanley Chang, Chair HOUSING COMMITTEE Hawai'i State Legislature Dear Chairs Nishihara and Chang and Committee Members: RE: SB 1302, Relating to Natural Disasters Thank you for this opportunity to comment on SB 1302, which generously offers Hawai'i County $50 million in state assistant for relief, recovery, mitigation, and remediation from the lingering impacts associated with the Kilauea eruption. We appreciate your continued support through what has been a very difficult nine months for the people of Hawai'i Island, and particularly those residents that call the Puna district their home. The proposed appropriations of$20 million for housing assistance and $30 million in loans for FY20, and again for FY21, will go a long way to jump start our efforts to provide (or continue to provide) assistance to those displaced families seeking housing, as well as infuse much needed capital to match proposed federal public assistance and disaster mitigation projects. Given the current fiscal constraints facing Hawai'i County, it would be difficult to get these federally assisted infrastructure projects moving without your financial support as we simply do not have adequate cash reserves to fund our twenty-five percent match for these reconstruction projects. County of Hawari is an Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer