STAND. COM. REP. NO. 156

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 1213

       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 Public Safety, Government Operations, and Military Affairs and Water, Land, and Housing, to which was referred S.B. No. 1213 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PERMITTING,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to require the county agency receiving an application for a building permit for a project to convene an informational meeting of the applicant and representatives of each state and county agency that will review the permit application to expedite the permitting process.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from one county department.

 

     Your Committees find that an applicant for a building permit must submit an application to each agency that has jurisdiction over an aspect of the project.  Many times, this means that an applicant must wait for approval from one agency before submitting an application to another agency to approve another aspect of the project.  At times, an agency may decline to approve an aspect of a project that was approved by another agency that reviewed an application related to the project.  Your Committees further find that the permitting process may be unduly burdensome to some businesses, particularly small businesses that cannot afford the costs of obtaining approvals that are often overlapping and duplicative.

 

     Your Committees note the initiative of President Obama to require federal agencies to "tailor" their regulations in a way that imposes the least amount of costs to the economy while achieving their objectives.  Your Committees believe a similar approach should be undertaken in Hawaii.

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by deleting its contents and inserting provisions to establish a temporary task force to be headed by the Comptroller to review and amend or repeal state and county rules, particularly those regarding county building permits, that may impose burdensome or unnecessary costs to businesses of all sizes but especially smaller businesses.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Public Safety, Government Operations, and Military Affairs and Water, Land, and Housing that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1213, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1213, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Public Safety, Government Operations, and Military Affairs and Water, Land, and Housing,

 

____________________________

DONOVAN DELA CRUZ, Chair

 

____________________________

WILL ESPERO, Chair