STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2458

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2006

RE: S.B. No. 3077

S.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2006

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Water, Land, and Agriculture, to which was referred S.B. No. 3077 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CONSERVATION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to create a process for acquiring lands with the land conservation fund.

Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the Trust for Public Land and the Windward Ahupua'a Alliance. Testimony in opposition to this measure was submitted by the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR). Comments were submitted by the Department of Agriculture, the Hawaii Agriculture Research Center, and the Nature Conservancy.

Your Committee finds that Hawaii's natural resources are vital to the State's economy, culture, and quality of life. With the enactment of Act 156, Session Laws of Hawaii 2005, the State now has an adequately funded land conservation fund to acquire interests in lands that have valuable resources. This measure:

(1) Creates a Legacy Land Conservation Commission to assist DLNR and the Board of Land and Natural Resources administer the land conservation fund; and

(2) Establishes priorities for land acquisitions.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Requiring that all land acquisitions be subject to a legislative disapproval process that is similar to the current provisions regarding exchanges of state land rather than an approval process;

(2) Requiring DLNR to report to the legislature whenever the Board of Land and Natural Resources accepts or rejects the Commission's recommendations;

(3) Restoring the governor's authority to approve grants to state agencies, counties, and nonprofit land conservation organizations; and

(4) Making technical, nonsubstantive changes for clarity and consistency.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Water, Land, and Agriculture that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 3077, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 3077, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Water, Land, and Agriculture,

____________________________

RUSSELL S. KOKUBUN, Chair