STAND. COM. REP. NO. 867

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    H.B. No. 760

       H.D. 1

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2013

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committees on Commerce and Consumer Protection and Water and Land, to which was referred H.B. No. 760, H.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE ENVIRONMENT,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to provide the opportunity for persons renting cars in Hawaii to make a voluntary contribution to the Department of Land and Natural Resources to preserve and protect the environment.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources; Office of Hawaiian Affairs; Historic Hawaii Foundation; Sierra Club, Hawaii Chapter; The Nature Conservancy of Hawaii; Conservation Council for Hawaii; Land Use Research Foundation; and two individuals.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from EAN Holdings, LLC.

 

     Your Committees find that Hawaii's unique environment is a critical component of Hawaii's tourism-based economy.  Numerous studies in Hawaii and abroad have indicated that visitors to areas of natural beauty and importance are willing to contribute financially to maintaining the environmental quality of these areas.

 

     Your Committees further find that check-offs are used in thirty-six states to provide funding for conservation programs.  This measure includes an option to the lessee in a motor vehicle agreement to contribute a sum to the Department of Land and Natural Resources for the preservation of the environment, with any such contributions deposited equally into the natural area reserve fund and the land conservation fund.  Your Committees additionally find that these funds help protect and restore Hawaii's natural areas, thus providing the dual benefit of ensuring a fully functioning water supply and preserving essential cultural and natural resources that are unique to Hawaii.

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by 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 Commerce and Consumer Protection and Water and Land that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 760, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 760, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Commerce and Consumer Protection and Water and Land,

 

____________________________

MALAMA SOLOMON, Chair

 

____________________________

ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair