House Committee on Economic Development adopts series of resolutions including resilience working group and Pearl City ballfields request

The House Committee on Economic Development on April 11, 2025, in Room 423 adopted a series of Senate concurrent resolutions covering resilience planning, stadium redevelopment, youth ball fields, veterans commemoration and international engagement.

The committee passed each resolution by voice vote during a roughly 20-minute decision-making session; the chair recommended passing the measures "as is" to avoid amendments that would have required matching language between chambers. Chair votes and four members recorded aye; two representatives were excused.

On SCR 51, which requests the Office of Planning and Sustainable Development to convene a working group to evaluate establishing and placing an Office of Resilience and Recovery, the Office of Planning and Sustainable Development (OPSD) offered amendments in testimony but stopped short of asking the committee to adopt them. David Kobayashi, speaking on behalf of Mary Alice Evans of OPSD, said, "We'd like to suggest that the membership of the working group be revised by naming the mayor of each county or their designee in place of the county civil defense administrators." Kobayashi said naming mayors or their designees would give local leaders more flexibility to send recovery or resilience officials who may be a better fit.

Luke Myers, branch chief at the Office of Recovery and Resiliency in the Office of the Governor, supported SCR 51 and emphasized the long-term nature of such work: "Recovery and resiliency work goes on for decades," Myers said, noting recent large disasters and anticipated federal grant opportunities that could affect state recovery and resiliency planning. When asked whether counties had requested OPSD to add mayoral designees, Myers said the recommendation came from the state office's engagement and experience rather than a formal county request.

On SCR 30, which requests the commander of Joint Base Pearl Harbor–Hickam to allow the City and County of Honolulu Department of Parks and Recreation to use restricted vacant land on the Pearl City Peninsula for youth ball programs, Larry Vere, chair of the Pearl City Neighborhood Board, testified in support. Vere described a roughly 12-acre cleared area on the peninsula and said one small portion previously received PFAS treatment after a decades-old tank incident. He said the neighborhood board's proposal is to place a parking lot over the PFAS-affected spot and use the remaining flat area for ball fields to serve Waipahu and Pearl City residents. "Perfect location for ball fields and we really think it's a win win," Vere said.

SCR 65, urging the Stadium Authority to finalize a contract for the new Aloha Stadium and to press development of the Aloha Stadium Entertainment District, drew supportive testimony from representatives of the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism and the Department of Accounting and General Services. Christine Raine of Aloha Halawa District Partners also testified in support and stood on written testimony.

Other measures the committee passed included SCR 40, urging the Hawaii Technology Development Corporation to increase emphasis on advanced manufacturing and cybersecurity; SCR 178 SD1, encouraging the East-West Center to expand international engagement in areas such as tropical agriculture and clean energy; SCR 24 SD1, urging the U.S. Department of Defense to retain public references to the 100th Infantry Battalion and the 442nd Regimental Combat Team on its websites; and SCRs 195 and 196 supporting broader state relationships with the Kingdoms of Sweden and Norway. Several veterans and community organizations provided written or spoken support on the veterans commemoration measure.

Votes at a glance

- SCR 51 (working group to evaluate Office of Resilience and Recovery): adopted, chair recommended passing "as is." Vote: Chair—aye; Member—aye; Representative Tam—aye; Representative Tempo—aye; Representative Todd—aye. Representative Holt and Representative Matsumoto excused.

- SCR 40 (advanced manufacturing and cybersecurity focus): adopted, chair recommended passing "as is." Same recorded vote and excusals as above.

- SCR 65 (Aloha Stadium contract and entertainment district): adopted, chair recommended passing "as is." Same recorded vote and excusals as above.

- SCR 178 SD1 (East-West Center international engagement): adopted, chair recommended passing "as is." Same recorded vote and excusals as above.

- SCR 30 (use of Pearl City Peninsula land for youth ball fields): adopted, chair recommended passing "as is." Same recorded vote and excusals as above.

- SCR 24 SD1 (Maintain DoD references to WWII Hawaiian units): adopted, chair recommended passing "as is." Same recorded vote and excusals as above.

- SCR 195 (encouraging relationship with Kingdom of Sweden): adopted, chair recommended passing "as is." Same recorded vote and excusals as above.

- SCR 196 (encouraging relationship with Kingdom of Norway): adopted, chair recommended passing "as is." Same recorded vote and excusals as above.

What this means next

All of the adopted measures will move forward to the respective floor or next legislative step; committee members said they preferred not to amend language at the committee level when identical language must be maintained in both legislative chambers. Several testifiers urged the state to coordinate with county recovery and resiliency officials and with federal partners where land use or DoD property is implicated.

(Reported from the House Committee on Economic Development hearing, April 11, 2025.)