STAND. COM. REP. NO. 519

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 1443

       S.D. 2

 

 

 

Honorable Shan S. Tsutsui

President of the Senate

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2011

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Agriculture, to which was referred S.B. No. 1443, S.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO IMPORTANT AGRICULTURAL LANDS,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

 

     (1)  Require the Departments of Agriculture and Land and Natural Resources to identify and map certain public lands to be considered for transfer from the Department of Land and Natural Resources to the Department of Agriculture;

 

     (2)  Establish a timetable for the transfer of those parcels that have been identified and mapped;

 

     (3)  Require the Department of Agriculture to identify, of those transferred public lands, which lands should be considered for designation by the Land Use Commission as Important Agricultural Lands;

 

     (4)  Clarify that public lands that are transferred from the Department of Land and Natural Resources to the Department of Agriculture are subject to the standards established in chapter 205, Hawaii Revised Statutes, for identifying and designating Important Agricultural Lands; and

    

     (5)  Require the Board of Agriculture to determine which incentives or uses for Important Agricultural Lands are to be made available to leases managed under the Board's Agricultural Parks and Non-Agricultural Park Lands programs.

 

     Your Committee finds that this measure ensures that public lands that are transferred from the Department of Land and Natural Resources to the Department of Agriculture are subject to the same standards for identifying and designating Important Agricultural Lands.  Your Committee further finds that this measure will provide a solid foundation for protecting the integrity of Important Agricultural Lands. 

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Agriculture that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1443, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1443, S.D. 2.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Agriculture,

 

 

 

____________________________

CLARENCE K. NISHIHARA, Chair