STAND. COM. REP. 414

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2003

RE: H.B. No. 579

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 Energy and Environmental Protection, to which was referred H.B. No. 579 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO BOATING,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill, as received by your Committees, is to require the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) to establish and enforce evaporative emissions standards and exhaust emissions standards for marine vessels that use spark-ignition engines, including sterndrive, inboard, and outboard engines and personal watercraft.

Your Committees find that although the state small boat harbors are in desperate need of major capital improvements, DLNR appears reluctant to increase fees to finance the debt service on an estimated $25,000,000 in general obligation bonds to bring the harbors to a safe and acceptable standard for the boaters in the State. The grim economic condition of the State and its residents have not gone unnoticed by your Committees, but we can no longer escape the inevitable fee increase, at least to the extent to cover the debt service on bonds for priority projects in the harbors.

 

For purposes of the public hearing, your Committees circulated a proposed H.D. 1 version that deletes the contents of this bill and inserts new provisions related to permits and fees for state small boat harbors and the Boating Special Fund (BSF).

Specifically, the proposed H.D. 1:

(1) Increased the moorage fees in effect on January 1, 2003, by 35 percent on July 1, 2003, and thereafter by five percent on July 1st for each of the years 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007, and thereafter by administrative rule beginning July 1, 2008;

(2) Authorized DLNR to increase the percentage of gross revenue fees in effect on January 1, 2003, on commercial vessels, by 0.5 percent commencing January 1, 2004, then by 0.25 percent per year to a maximum of three percent of gross revenues; and

(3) Required all fees and penalties established by DLNR to be deposited in the BSF, which relate to:

(A) Ocean recreation and coastal areas under section 200-4, Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS); and

(B) Vessels under the boating law in section 220-24, HRS.

The Ocean Tourism Coalition, Octopus Reef, Capt. Beans' Cruises, Sailing Shipps Ltd., dba Gemini Charters, Maui-Molokai Seas Cruises, Lahaina Dive and Surf, L.L.C., and Windjammer, submitted testimony supporting the intent of the proposed draft. DLNR, Na Hawaiian Aupuni, and a concerned individual submitted comments on the proposed draft. Hawaii Boaters Political Action Association and a concerned individual opposed the proposed draft.

Upon further consideration, your Committees have incorporated the contents of the proposed H.D. 1 and further amended this bill by requiring moorage fees in effect on January 1, 2003, to be increased by 50 percent on July 1, 2003, and thereafter increased by 5 percent on July 1, 2005, and July 1, 2007, and also authorizing DLNR to increase the fees by administrative rules.

 

Your Committees publicly emphasized that this legislatively initiated fee increase would be withheld if the administration proceeds with or gives clear indication that moorage fee increases will be implemented within a reasonable time.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Water, Land Use, and Hawaiian Affairs and Energy and Environmental Protection that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 579, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 579, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Finance.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Water, Land Use, and Hawaiian Affairs and Energy and Environmental Protection,

 

____________________________

HERMINA M. MORITA, Chair

____________________________

EZRA R. KANOHO, Chair