Hawai’i Priorities Protected in Omnibus Appropriations Bill
Targeted News Service |
U.S. Senator
The omnibus appropriations bill includes more than
"We did well for
"All of us in the
The FY 2014 omnibus spending bill includes a dozen appropriations bills setting forth detailed spending decisions for the U.S. government from December's compromise budget agreement. The Appropriations Committee was able to resume work on these appropriations bills, avoid more sequestration cuts, and avert a government shutdown only due to the budget agreement that the President signed into law on
Summary of the FY2014 Omnibus for
The omnibus includes the following for
East-West Center -
Senator Schatz worked with
Background
Senator Schatz has been championing funding for the East-West Center with Senate Appropriations leaders since January. After
"As Chairman of the
"Senator Schatz was instrumental in securing the funding in this bill for the
Native Hawaiian Programs
Native Hawaiian Health Care -
Funding for Native Hawaiian Health Care Systems (NHHCS) programs is critical in order to improve the health of the Native Hawaiian population to the highest possible level. Many Native Hawaiians face geographical, cultural, and financial barriers that prevent them from accessing existing health services. Native Hawaiian Health Centers, run through the NHHCS program, provide critical access to health education, promotion, disease prevention, and basic primary care services for the more than 8,400 Native Hawaiians enrolled in the NHHCS programs. This funding will support five health centers on
The
$32.4 million
Native Hawaiians have reduced access to early childhood education, and they are less likely to attain a high school or college diploma than their peers. To address this issue, funding from the Native Hawaiian Education grant program supports innovative, culturally-sensitive education programs to advance education outcomes for Native Hawaiians. These are competitive grants to public and private entities to develop or operate innovative projects that enhance the educational services provided to Native Hawaiian children and adults. These programs have included early education and care; family-based centers; reading and literacy programs; and opportunities for gifted and talented students of Native Hawaiian descent.
These programs help strengthen Native Hawaiian culture, increase community cohesion, sustain and advance Native Hawaiian language learning and literacy, improve levels of educational attainment, and enhance family and community involvement in education - all of which have been directly correlated with positive educational, social and economic outcomes. New grantees in FY 2011 alone supported more than 30,000 Native Hawaiian children and families.
In 2012, grant awardees included Partners in
These block grants and loan guarantees support affordable housing for Native Hawaiians, who have consistently posted the highest rate of homelessness and inadequate housing of any group in the nation. Funding is directed to the
Senator Schatz fought to ensure this program was included in the omnibus appropriations bill after the
Transportation
HART, Honolulu Rail Transit -
One of Senator Schatz's top priorities is ensuring full funding for Honolulu Rail Transit (HART). As a member of the Transportation Committee (Commerce subcommittee on Surface Transportation), Senator Schatz has worked with Chair of the
Rail transit will be electrically powered, and with
Air Transportation for Kalaupapa and Kamuela Communities - est.
This Essential Air Service Subsidy provides air service support for Kalaupapa and
Federal Essential Air Service grants subsidize service to and from small airports across
These federal funds pay for upkeep, construction, commuting improvements for
Bus Funding - est.
These federal funds support TheBus, Maui Bus, Hele-On Bus, and The Kauai Bus.
Airports and Airways -
As an island state, reliable air travel is especially critical for
Disaster Preparedness
The omnibus maintains
U.S. Tsunami Warning System -
The omnibus increases funding from sequestration and keeps intact the tsunami warning network that protects
Major tsunamis occur about once per decade. Based on historical data, about 59% of the world's tsunamis have occurred in the
The funding supports investments in tsunami warning infrastructure and expands outreach activities to enable preparedness throughout the Pacific. It also supports increased grant funding to support local education, awareness, and inundation and evacuation map development. The requested funds will reduce time between scheduled maintenance intervals for the DART buoy network, which provides key data to the tsunami warning system. The increased funding will also provide for sufficient levels of sensors and other equipment. Investment in the NTHMP mitigates the risks found in the 2011 National Academies of Science assessment report entitled, "Tsunami Warning and Preparedness," which indicated that the current capabilities are still not sufficient to meet the challenges posed by a tsunami generated close to land, which could reach the coast minutes after the triggering event.
The NDPTC at the
Emergency Management Performance Grant Program -
The Emergency Management Performance Grant (EMPG) program is the only source of federal assistance to state and local governments for all-hazards emergency management capacity building, and provides states with the flexibility to prioritize spending according to the most urgent state and local needs. Commonly referred to as "the backbone of the nation's emergency management system," EMPG funds are critical to supporting personnel, planning, training, exercises, warning systems, public outreach, and other functions essential to effective preparedness.
EMPG supports approximately 40 percent of personnel costs at
Without a budget compromise, the
The
In previous years, the
ONR has also supported research into hydrogen fuel, and using sustainable biomass for use in the production of biofuels for naval vessels. Most recently, in
Senator Schatz worked with
Environmental Restoration Formerly Used Defense Sites (FUDS) -
This program allows the
Since this program is important to jobs in
DoD Readiness and Environmental Protection Initiative (REPI) -
DoD STARBASE Program -
The DoD STARBASE Program is a successful partnership of military installations, local school districts, and their communities and has proven its effectiveness in enhancing the Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) field study education understanding of its participants. Sustaining the program will help ensure DoD's commitment to building the future workforce needed to support
Maui Space Situational Awareness -
The Maui Space Situational Awareness research program sustains the investment in funding for the Maui Space Surveillance System, a one-of-a-kind electro-optical facility that supports the
* Command and Control Facility, Fort Shafter -
* Funding for this construction projects will allow the
* 3rd
*
* AirCraft Maintenance Expansion,
* Funding for this project will allow the
* Aircraft Maintenance Hangar Upgrades,
* Funding for this construction project will ensure that the
* Aviation Simulator Modernization/Addition,
* Funding for this project will allow the
* MV-22 Hangar,
* Existing hangar facilities at
* MV-22 Parking Apron and Infrastructure,
* Funding for this project will allow the
* Water Transmission Line,
* A new 1,050 mm primary potable waterline (42-inch water main pipe) is required for Joint Base Pearl- Harbor Hickham and the
* Drydock Waterfront Facility,
* Funding for this project will allow the
* Submarine Production Support Facility,
* Funding for this project will allow the shipyard to consolidate submarine production and maintenance support functions in one facility that are currently performed in eleven separate, inefficient and deteriorated facilities. Without the project, radiological work process would be inefficient, requiring additional handling of radioactive materials and increasing the risk of personnel exposure to radiation due to the fragmented work areas.
* C-17 Modernization Hangar 35, Docks 1 and 2, Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam -
* The C-17 aircraft based at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam require an enclosed covered aircraft maintenance space in order to keep them fully operational. This project permits a cost-effective, partial workaround for C-17 to be maintained in Hangar 35 when the docks are not used for higher priority aircraft until a new C-17 hangar can be approved and constructed. It modifies hangar doors to permit complete entry of C-17 aircraft and provides the capability to jack C-17 aircraft. C-17 aircraft in this squadron lose days of operational availability due to delays in routine maintenance caused by the weather. When work is started but weather conditions change from the forecast, airmen working in vicinity of a jacked aircraft are subjected to greater safety risk and man-hours lost while closing systems until maintenance can safely resume.
* Defense Information Systems Pacific Facility Upgrades,
* Funding for this project will provide critical cooling capacity and redundancy with concurrent maintenance capability for all the DISA PAC spaces in Building 77 at
* Alter Warehouse Space, Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam -
* Funding for this project would allow Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam to alter 840 square-meters (9,040 square-feet) of existing vacant warehouse space into administrative office space to support 39 employees with the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support. If this project is not provided, DLA will be required to spend funds to repair a location that is dispersed from the other previously consolidated DLA missions at
Other Programs Benefitting Hawai'i
Small Business Development Centers -
Senator Schatz understands the importance of community health centers (CHCs) in providing access to quality, effective care to our most underserved. He was a strong advocate for funding CHCs in FY 2014. He has also worked with his colleagues to make sure that funding authorized by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) for the
In 2012, health centers in
Health Centers in
*
*
* Ho'ola Lahui (
*
*
*
*
*
*
* Molokai Ohana Health Care (
*
* West Hawai'i
*
* Ko'olauloa
Brown Tree Snake Control- Funding from two sources -
The Brown Tree Snake is not known to be present in
Protecting Endangered Hawaiian Monk Seals and Sea Turtles -
Hawaiian monk seals are the only seal species in the world that live in only one nation's territorial waters--and as an extremely endangered species, that means we have a responsibility to help them toward recovery. The best estimate we have from NOAA of the monk seal population is 1060 seals: 907 in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, and 153 in the main 8 Hawaiian Islands. This funding will continue to support monk seal conservation and recovery. These actions make a difference: up to 30 percent of monk seals are alive today because of interventions by NOAA.
Marine mammal funding supports survival enhancement activities for marine mammals, such as: population assessment activities, education and outreach projects, and behavioral research and mitigation programs for human-marine mammal interactions. These efforts are critical to ensuring that seal species do not go extinct.
Sea turtle funding supports activities such as interagency consultation and technical assistance on marine turtle by-catch reduction strategies; cooperative conservation actions in the greater Pacific region; marine turtle stock assessments and scientific research projects; and related activities must be continued to make further progress in implementing recovery actions identified in recovery plans for Endangered Species Act protected marine turtle species.
Senator Schatz worked to increase funding for these programs and reverse last year's sequestration cuts that funded the program at only
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