STAND. COM. REP. 121

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2003

RE: H.B. No. 1135

H.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2003

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Water, Land Use, and Hawaiian Affairs and Economic Development and Business Concerns, to which was referred H.B. No. 1135 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to reinstate the core function of the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism (DBEDT), which is to facilitate and promote business opportunities, and the growth and diversification of Hawaii's economy. This bill reduces the negative impact that the addition of a series of administratively attached agencies has had on DBEDT's ability to perform its own function by:

(1) Transferring the Land Use Commission (LUC) from DBEDT to the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) and making the chairperson of the Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) a member and chairperson of LUC;

(2) Transferring the functions of the Office of Planning (OP) from DBEDT to DLNR and:

(A) Transferring the State Board on Geographic Names (SBGN) from OP to DLNR;

(B) Removing OP as one of the agencies that the Kahoolawe Island Reserve Commission advises regarding the federal conveyance of the island of Kahoolawe;

(C) Removing the Director of OP from the Natural Area Reserves System Commission, SBGN, Kaneohe Bay Regional Council, and from potential membership on the DBEDT advisory committee relating to the development of markets for recycled materials;

(D) Substituting DLNR for OP as a party in every LUC boundary change proceedings, in the five-year mandatory boundary review process, and as the lead agency in the Coastal Zone Management Program under chapter 205A, Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS);

(3) Substituting the chairperson of BLNR for OP as a member of the Statewide Transportation Council; and

(4) Repealing:

(A) Chapter 214, HRS, relating to grants-in-aid for county capital improvement projects, which authorizes OP and the Department of Budget and Finance to adopt rules to implement the chapter;

(B) Chapter 223, HRS, relating to the development of a state policy to halt urban sprawl, which requires OP to develop a quality growth policy; and

(C) Chapter 225M, HRS, which establishes OP in DBEDT.

DBEDT, DLNR, Land Use Research Foundation of Hawaii, and the Hawaii Leeward Planning Conference submitted testimony in support to this bill. Hawaii's Thousand Friends and Full Plate, Inc., submitted testimony in opposition to this measure. Two concerned citizens submitted comments on this bill.

Your Committees note a number of concerns regarding this bill, including:

(1) The need to keep the Hawaii Coastal Zone Management Program a separate administrative unit;

(2) The necessity to retain county representation on LUC, regardless of the ultimate resolution of the disposition of LUC;

(3) The need for a comprehensive analysis of the functions of OP that should be retained or transferred to DLNR; and

(4) The need to maintain the independent status of LUC.

Upon consideration, your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Deleting the sections of the bill that repeal chapters 214 and 223, HRS;

(2) Deleting the section of the bill that provides for the chairperson of BLNR to be the chairperson of LUC; and

(3) Changing the effective date of the transfer of the functions of OP to July 1, 2010, to encourage further discussion on this important matter.

Other technical, nonsubstantive amendments were made for purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Water, Land Use, and Hawaiian Affairs and Economic Development and Business Concerns that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1135, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1135, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Labor and Public Employment.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Water, Land Use, and Hawaiian Affairs and Economic Development and Business Concerns,

 

____________________________

BRIAN SCHATZ, Chair

____________________________

EZRA R. KANOHO, Chair