STAND. COM. REP. NO 355

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                

 

RE:    S.B. No. 1073

       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 Tourism and International Affairs and Agriculture, to which was referred S.B. No. 1073 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO LAND USE,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

     (1)  Provide that agricultural tourism uses or activities, including overnight accommodations for stays of less than thirty consecutive days, conducted in conjunction with a bona fide farming operation, are permissible in an agricultural district; and

     (2)  Ensure that bona fide farming operations that meet the statutory criteria would not be required to obtain a special permit pursuant to section 205-6, Hawaii Revised Statutes, for accessory agricultural tourism uses and activities.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Agriculture; Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism; Land Use Commission; Office of Planning; Hawaii Crop Improvement Association; and Hawaii Farm Bureau.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from one individual.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from one individual.

 

     Your Committees find that supporting agricultural tourism and offering overnight accommodations support economic development and contribute to the State's goals of increased food security and food self-sufficiency.  Your Committees also find that, as raised in testimony, a concise definition of "bona fide farming operations" ensures that agricultural tourism activities are properly established and that abuse is reduced.

 

     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 Tourism and International Affairs and Agriculture that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1073, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1073, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Water and Land.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Tourism and International Affairs and Agriculture,

 

____________________________

RUSSELL E. RUDERMAN, Chair

 

____________________________

GILBERT KAHELE, Chair