STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1133

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    H.B. No. 1405

       H.D. 1

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Shan S. Tsutsui

President of the Senate

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2011

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committees on Water, Land, and Housing and Ways and Means, to which was referred H.B. No. 1405, H.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PLANNING,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to require the Office of Planning of the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism to develop and establish a statewide system of greenways and trails to promote Smart Growth and sustainability in the State.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Planning and Permitting, City and County of Honolulu; Sierra Club, Hawaii Chapter; The Outdoor Circle; Nicole Lowen; and Janice Palma-Glennie.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Office of Planning of the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism and Aha Kiole Advisory Committee.

 

     Your Committees find that the Office of Planning does not have the staff and fiscal resources at this time to implement planning for a statewide system of greenways and trails.  Furthermore, as several testifiers attested, this measure duplicates ongoing efforts of various state and county agencies.

 

     Your Committees further find that meaningful planning for the future of our State cannot occur without addressing the unresolved claims of Native Hawaiians to lands within the State.  Long-term planning to address social ills, including the lack of availability of affordable housing, will continue to be hampered unless a Native Hawaiian governing entity is recognized by the State of Hawaii and can negotiate with the State of Hawaii to resolve the claims of the Native Hawaiian people.

 

     Accordingly, your Committees have amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Deleting its contents and replacing them with the contents of S.B. No. 1, S.D. 2, which, among other things:

 

     (A)  Establishes a nine-member Native Hawaiian Roll Commission to prepare and maintain a roll of qualified Native Hawaiians to serve as a basis of eligibility to participate in the organization of a Native Hawaiian governing entity;

 

     (B)  Requires the Commission, after publication of the Roll, to appoint an interim council of nine members from the Roll to commence the organization of a convention of qualified Native Hawaiians;

 

     (C)  Requires the Governor to dissolve the Commission after the interim council is appointed; and

 

     (D)  Appropriates an unspecified sum to be expended by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs for the purposes of this measure; and

 

     (2)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Water, Land, and Housing and Ways and Means that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1405, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1405, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

 


Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Water, Land, and Housing and Ways and Means,

 

____________________________

DAVID Y. IGE, Chair

 

____________________________

DONOVAN M. DELA CRUZ, Chair