Report Title:

Water Commission; Hawaiian Cultural Practitioner Member

 

Description:

Adds a Hawaiian cultural practitioner to the Commission Water Resource Management.

 

THE SENATE

S.B. NO.

497

TWENTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2001

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

relating to the commission on water resource management.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. Section 174C-7, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsections (a) and (b) to read as follows:

"(a) There is established within the department a commission on water resource management consisting of [six] seven members which shall have exclusive jurisdiction and final authority in all matters relating to implementation and administration of the state water code, except as otherwise specifically provided in this chapter.

(b) [Four] Five members shall be appointed by the governor subject to confirmation by the senate, in a manner prescribed in subsection (d). [Each member] Four members shall have substantial experience in the area of water resource management. One member shall be a Hawaiian cultural practitioner. For the purposes of this section, a "Hawaiian cultural practitioner" means a person who, by reason of education or extensive experience, is generally recognized as being professionally qualified in the practice of customs and traditions exercised by the descendants of the aboriginal people that inhabited and exercised sovereignty in the Hawaiian islands prior to 1778 for, but not limited to subsistence, cultural, and religious purposes. The chairperson of the board of land and natural resources shall be the chairperson of the commission. The director of health shall serve as an ex officio voting member."

SECTION 2. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 3. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

INTRODUCED BY:

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