STAND. COM. REP. NO.  244-16

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2016

 

RE:   H.B. No. 2756

      H.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Joseph M. Souki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2016

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Transportation, to which was referred H.B. No. 2756 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO A PORT AUTHORITY,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure is to increase the efficient operation, management, and oversight of Hawaii's small boat harbors and small airports by, among other things:

 

     (1)  Establishing the Hawaii Port Authority, which will assume the functions, duties, and responsibilities of the Department of Transportation and Department of Land and Natural Resources in setting statewide policy on all matters relating to small boat harbors and small airports; and

 

     (2)  Appropriating funds for the establishment of the Hawaii Port Authority.

 

     The Department of Land and Natural Resources, Airport Concessionaires Committee, Ocean Tourism Coalition, and Airlines Committee of Hawaii testified in support of this measure.  The Department of Budget and Finance and Hawaii Shippers' Council testified in opposition to this measure.

 

     Hawaii's geography and isolation in the middle of the Pacific Ocean makes its transportation network essential to the State.  Currently, Hawaii's numerous harbors and airports fall under the jurisdiction of several agencies, including the Department of Transportation, which oversees and regulates commercial harbors and all airports statewide, and the Department of Land and Natural Resources, which oversees small boat harbors.  This multijurisdictional situation has resulted in inefficiencies and conflicts that are difficult to resolve between agencies.  Your Committee finds that creating a Hawaii Port Authority to oversee and manage a statewide system of small boat harbors and airports may be the answer to solving some of these issues.

 

     However, your Committee notes that concerns were raised about the inclusion of small boat harbors under the jurisdiction of a port authority.  Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Removing small boat harbors from the jurisdiction of the Hawaii Port Authority and making technical amendments to reflect this change;

 

     (2)  Changing its effective date to July 1, 2116, to facilitate further discussion; and

 

     (3)  Making additional technical, nonsubstantive amendments for clarity, consistency, and style.

 

     While your Committee understands that this is a work in progress and more discussion needs to occur on this matter, this measure deserves further consideration.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Transportation that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2756, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2756, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Water & Land.

 

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

 

 

 

 

____________________________

HENRY J.C. AQUINO, Chair