STAND. COM. REP. NO. 351

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 1115

       S.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Government Operations, to which was referred S.B. No. 1115 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO BUILDING DESIGN FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to amend the definition of "public buildings, facilities, and sites" under section 103-50, Hawaii Revised Statutes, to exempt certain construction projects constructed on state or county lands that would not ordinarily be open to public access from mandatory review by the Disability and Communications Access Board.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Disability and Communication Access Board.

     Your Committee finds that section 103-50, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is not intended to require certain private entities operating upon state or county lands to be held to the compliance standards of the Americans with Disabilities Act or to submit building plans for review by the Disability and Communication Access Board.  Farm buildings constructed upon state agricultural land and private homes constructed upon a Hawaiian homestead plot are examples of buildings that were not intended to be regulated under section 103-50, Hawaii Revised Statutes, but could arguably fall under the Disability and Communication Access Board's purview according to existing statutory language.  This measure seeks to align statutory language with intent and practice.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by making technical, nonsubstantive amendments 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. 1115, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1115, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Labor.

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

____________________________

DONOVAN M. DELA CRUZ, Chair