HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.C.R. NO.	55
TWENTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE, 2015		S.D. 1
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

REQUESTING THAT THE BARACK OBAMA FOUNDATION ESTABLISH A PRESIDENTIAL CENTER IN HAWAII.

 

 

     WHEREAS, presidential centers are important institutions that preserve the historical record and sponsor programs to make a better future; and

 

     WHEREAS, presidential centers have evolved since their founding by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to include multiple components, including archives, museum exhibitions, conference facilities, university research programs, and educational initiatives; and

 

     WHEREAS, the distinct elements of a presidential center can be located in a single location, as in the case of the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas, or in more than one location, as in the case of the Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock and the Clinton Foundation, headquartered in New York City; and

 

     WHEREAS, Hawaii's proposal, submitted by the University of Hawaii in collaboration and with support from state, federal, county, business, philanthropic, and community leaders, promotes a Barack Obama Presidential Center to not only preserve the President's legacy but to advance it through a center that promotes innovation, research, and education such as a K-12 Global Youth Leadership Academy, an action-oriented Convening Institute, a University of Hawaii Center for Community Organizing, and an interactive, issues-based Visitor Center; and

 

     WHEREAS, Hawaii's advantage lies not only in its hospitable climate and exceptional natural beauty, but also in its multiculturalism and aloha spirit, offering a location where national and international visitors, scholars, and global leaders will experience the beauty of Hawaii's diversity and aloha spirit and, most importantly, a sense of place and familiarity; and

 

     WHEREAS, as the world's attention pivots to the Asia-Pacific region due to its growing economic and geopolitical prominence, Hawaii represents the ideal location to create a Barack Obama Presidential Center; and

 

     WHEREAS, Hawaii is strategically located, culturally diverse, and roughly equidistant from the world's principal economic capitals, which will enable the Center to bring together scholars, stakeholders, and decision-makers to tackle global challenges, from climate change to economic inequality; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-eighth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2015, the Senate concurring, that this body requests that the Barack Obama Foundation support and recommend the establishment of a Barack Obama Presidential Center in Hawaii; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a certified copy of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Chair of the Board of Directors of the Barack Obama Foundation.

Report Title: 

Presidential Library; Hawaii site selection