STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1241-04

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2004

RE: S.B. No. 1556

S.D. 2

H.D. 2

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2004

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Finance, to which was referred S.B. No. 1556, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO COASTAL ZONE MANAGEMENT,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to increase the accuracy of determining shorelines for shoreline certification by:

(1) Clarifying the definition of "shoreline" to mean the uppermost reach of the wash of the waves; specifying that the shoreline is usually evidenced by the edge of vegetation growth, or the upper limit of debris left by the wash of the waves, whichever is furthest mauka or inland; and ignoring vegetation that is influenced or modified by human intervention;

(2) Prohibiting the planting of vegetation or the facilitation or inducement of vegetation growth by human intervention to influence or modify the shoreline, and providing that such vegetation planting or growth shall not be considered in the shoreline certification process;

(3) Requiring applicants for shoreline certification to provide a copy of their application to abutting shoreline property owners, the Office of Environmental Quality Control, and the county planning agency; and

(4) Allowing the state land surveyor to review and rescind any shoreline certification during its twelve-month validity period if there is a misrepresentation of material fact in the original application.

A member of the Kauai County Council, Sierra Club–Hawaii Chapter, Hawaii Wildlife Fund, Public Access Shoreline Hawaii, and five concerned individuals supported this bill. The Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Hawaii Audubon Society, Kamehameha Schools, and MACZAC Shoreline Certification Working Group supported this measure with amendments. The Department of Land and Natural Resources and Land Use Research of Hawaii opposed this bill. The Office of Planning of the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism, Hawaii Leeward Planning Conference, and Hawaii Association of Realtors commented.

Your Committee has amended this bill by:

(1) Changing its effective date to July 1, 2010, to promote further discussion; and

(2) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for clarity, consistency, and style.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Finance that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1556, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1556, S.D. 2, H.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Finance,

 

____________________________

DWIGHT Y. TAKAMINE, Chair