STAND. COM. REP. NO. 361

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 851

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2021

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Government Operations, to which was referred S.B. No. 851 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO WIRELESS BROADBAND NETWORKS,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

 

     (1)  Clarify that certain small wireless facilities and associated modified or replaced utility poles shall be classified as permitted uses and shall not be subject to zoning review or zoning approval if they are deployed in an underserved area or unserved area; and

 

     (2)  Define "underserved area" and "unserved area".

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism; Department of Transportation; and Verizon.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from Mahana Weddings Maui; Keep Your Power Hawaii; Keep Your Power, Kauai; and fifty-seven individuals.

 

     Your Committee finds that broadband is increasingly intertwined with the daily functions of modern life.  Your Committee further finds that nearly one hundred thousand residents of Hawaii have only one wired service provider available at their residence address, nearly twenty-two thousand residents have no wired internet providers offering service at their residence, and over forty thousand residents of Hawaii do not have a wired connection capable of high-speed internet.  This measure will facilitate the development of broadband infrastructure.

 

     Your Committee also notes that numerous testifiers expressed concerns about the potential impacts of this measure on the ability of counties and local communities to make their own zoning and permitting decisions, and that consideration of these concerns may merit further discussion as this measure proceeds in the legislative process.

 

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

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Government Operations that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 851, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 851, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Government Operations,

 

 

 

________________________________

SHARON MORIWAKI, Chair