STAND. COM. REP. NO. 71-04

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2004

RE: H.B. No. 1807

H.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2004

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Public Safety and Military Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 1807 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT LAW,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to balance the interests of both the civilian and military sectors of Hawaii by ensuring that an environmental assessment is performed on the potential impact of a county general plan amendment or state land use commission petition to reclassify land within 3,000 feet of any military installation.

The state Department of Defense and Sierra Club, Hawaii Chapter, testified in support of this bill. The Department of Planning and Permitting of the City and County of Honolulu, Office of Hawaiian Affairs, and Land Use Research Foundation of Hawaii opposed the measure. The state Office of Environmental Quality Control submitted comments.

Your Committee has amended this bill by:

(1) Extending the distance that triggers an environmental assessment to two miles for counties with a resident population of less than 500,000;

(2) Amending the definitions of "environmental impact statement" and "significant effect"; and

(3) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for purposes of style, clarity, and consistency.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Public Safety and Military Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1807, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1807, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Water, Land Use, and Hawaiian Affairs.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Public Safety and Military Affairs,

 

____________________________

KEN ITO, Chair