STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2647

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2248

       S.D. 2

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2014

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 2248, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC LAND LIABILITY,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to amend Act 82, Session Laws of Hawaii 2003, to make permanent the liability protections provided by warning signs for outdoor recreation on improved public lands.

     The measure also extends those same protections to warning signs for dangerous non-natural conditions on unimproved public lands.

     Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources and the Hawaii Government Employees Association.  Written comments in opposition were received from the Hawaii Association for Justice.

     Your Committee finds that Hawaii is a prime destination for tourists.  Your Committee believes that there must be a balance between the responsibilities of recreational users of public lands and the liability limits of the State and counties.  Your Committee further finds that the posting of warning signs satisfies the State and a county's duty to warn the public of dangerous conditions on improved public lands.  Your Committee further finds that the same requirements for warning signs should also satisfy the State's duty to warn of dangerous non-natural conditions on unimproved public lands.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1)  Changing the effective date to July 1, 2050, to facilitate further discussion on the measure; and

(2)  Making technical nonsubstantive changes for purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2248, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2248, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

____________________________

DAVID Y. IGE, Chair