HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019-02-06 Letter to Gregg Takayama, Tom Brower, Ryan Yamane, Joy San Buenaventura re HB 1180 - Natural Disasters -�v or p Wil Okabe
_ �..-Ni,. Managing Director
C tHarry Kim i i •E���.-,,•••1'•'
Mayor -=.
'•'ii;'N• -- Barbara J.Kossow
Deputy Managing 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
Representative Gregg Takayama, Chair Representative Tom Brower, Chair
COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY, COMMITTEE ON HOUSING
VETERANS & MILITARY AFFAIRS
Representative Ryan I. Yamane, Chair Representative Joy A. San Buenaventura, Chair
COMMITTEE ON WATER, LAND & COMMITTEE ON HUMAN SERVICES &
HAWAIIAN AFFAIRS HOMELESSNESS
Dear Chairs Takayama, Yamane, Brower, and San Buenaventura, and Committee members:
RE: HB 1180, Relating to Natural Disasters
Thank you for this opportunity to comment on HB 1180, 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.
I would like to personally thank our Hawai'i County delegates, Joy A. San Buenaventura,
Richard P. Creagan, Nicole E. Lowen, Mark M. Nakashima, David A. Tarnas, and Chris Todd for
introducing House Bill 1180. Your continued efforts to help restore the quality of life to the people of
County of I lawa,'i is an Equal Opportunity Pro%Iden and Employer
February 6, 2019
G. Takayama, T. Brower,
R. Yamane, J. San Buenaventura
HB 1180 - Page 2
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.
Resp-ctfully submitted,
Harry Kiri Mayor
County of Hawaii
County of Hawaii is an Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer