STAND. COM. REP. NO 629

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 Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred S.B. No. 1115, S.D. 1, 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 (HRS), to, among other things, exempt from mandatory review by the Disability and Communication Access Board certain construction projects constructed on state or county lands that would not ordinarily be open to public access.

     Your Committee did not receive testimony on this measure.

     Your Committee finds that section 103-50, HRS, 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, HRS, but could arguably fall under the Disability and Communication Access Board's purview according to existing statutory language.  This measure intends to align statutory language with the actual procedures and practices that the Disability and Communication Access Board implements in carrying out its responsibilities over building plan reviews.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary and Labor that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1115, S.D. 1, and recommends that it pass Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary and Labor,

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GILBERT S.C. KEITH-AGARAN, Chair