HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019-02-06 Letter to Clarence Nishihara & Stanley Chang re SB 1302 Relating to Natural Disasters (Y aF y..
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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
February 6, 2019
C. Nishihara & S. Chang
SB 1302 — Natural Disasters
Page 2
I would like to personally thank our Hawai'i County delegates, Russell E.
Ruderman, Kaiali'i Kahele, Dru Mamo Kanuha, and Lorraine R. Inouye for introducing
Senate Bill 1302. Your continued efforts to help restore the quality of life to the people
of Hawai'i Island is commendable. I also appreciate that, in your wisdom, you have
collectively recognized that this recovery effort will not be undertaken in a single year
but rather will occur over several years. Therefore, I ask for your ongoing support of our
efforts to restore our community in the years to come.
Respectfull submitted,
I � `
Harry Kim, IGlayor
County of Hawai'i
County of Hawai, is an Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer