STAND. COM. REP. NO. 879

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    H.B. No. 424

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Shan S. Tsutsui

President of the Senate

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2011

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Transportation and International Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 424 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENTS,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to extend the temporary exemption from the State's environmental impact statement law afforded to certain actions involving infrastructure within existing public rights-of-way.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from Hawaiian Electric Company, Inc.; NAIOP Hawaii, Commercial Real Estate Development Association; The Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii; Hawaii Association of REALTORS; and Land Use Research Foundation of Hawaii.  Comments were received from the Office of Environmental Quality Control and one individual.

 

     This measure extends the sunset date of Act 87, Session Laws of Hawaii 2009, from July 1, 2011, to July 1, 2013.  Act 87 exempts a primary from chapter 343, Hawaii Revised Statutes, the environmental impact statements law, action that requires a permit or approval that is not subject to a discretionary consent and that involves a secondary action that is ancillary and limited to the installation, improvement, renovation, construction, or development of infrastructure within an existing public right-of-way or highway.  

 

     Your Committee finds that Act 87 has raised concerns and questions about the application of chapter 343, Hawaii Revised Statutes, as it pertains to primary and secondary actions.  This measure allows more time to resolve these issues.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by requiring the Office of Environmental Quality Control to report findings and recommendations, including proposed legislation, to the Legislature no later than twenty days before the convening of the Regular Session of 2012, regarding issues related to the application of chapter 343, Hawaii Revised Statutes, and the effectiveness of Act 87, Session Laws of Hawaii 2009. 

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Transportation and International Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 424, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 424, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Energy and Environment.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Transportation and International Affairs,

 

 

 

____________________________

J. KALANI ENGLISH, Chair