STAND. COM. REP. NO 309

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                

 

RE:    S.B. No. 499

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committees on Energy and Environment, Water and Land, and Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 499 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to require major infrastructure improvement projects or construction projects of the State or a county that are within coastal lands to include in the environmental assessments and environmental impact statements an analysis of the environmental impact of projected sea level rise and fall over the anticipated lifespan of the project.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources, Department of Transportation, Office of Environmental Quality Control, Office of Planning, University of Hawaii System, Conservation Council for Hawaii, Hawaii Alliance, Surfrider Foundation, Americans for Democratic Action, and eleven individuals.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of Design and Construction of the City and County of Honolulu, Building Industry Association of Hawaii, and Chamber of Commerce Hawaii.

 

     Your Committees find that state or county construction projects in coastal areas are environmentally precarious.  It is essential to take impacts related to projected sea level rise into account during the planning stage in order to protect current infrastructure investments over time.  Implementation of this measure will reduce hazards and minimize costly adaption measures.

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Replacing "sea level change" with "sea level rise", "coastal lands" with "special management area", and "projected sea level rise or fall" with "projected sea level rise";

 

     (2)  Clarifying that beginning July, 1, 2016, an environmental assessment or environmental impact statement may include an analysis of the environmental impact of projected sea level rise over the anticipated lifespan of the project;

 

     (3)  Requiring the Office of Environmental Quality Control to work with the Hawaii Coastal Zone Management Program and relevant state agencies to provide guidance documents concerning ecological and environmental problems related to the development of the coastal zone management area;

 

     (4)  Amending the definition of "major" to mean any project having an anticipated estimated value equal to or exceeding $3,000,000; and

 

     (5)  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 Energy and Environment, Water and Land, and Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 499, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 499, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

 


Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Energy and Environment, Water and Land, and Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs,

 

____________________________

LAURA H. THIELEN, Chair

 

____________________________

MIKE GABBARD, Chair

 

 

____________________________

WILL ESPERO, Chair