STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1092

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                   

 

RE:     S.B. No. 81

        S.D. 2

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2023

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committees on Judiciary and Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 81, S.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

The purpose and intent of this measure is to clarify that the Board of Land and Natural Resources' authority shall supersede the Mauna Kea Stewardship and Oversight Authority for all Mauna Kea lands designated under the state conservation district.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources and three individuals.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Mauna Kea Stewardship and Oversight Authority and three individuals.

 

     Your Committees find that Act 255, Session Laws of Hawaii 2022 (Act 255), established the Mauna Kea Stewardship and Oversight Authority (MKSOA) and placed it within the Department of Land and Natural Resources for administrative purposes.  The intent of Act 255 was to transfer management authority over Mauna Kea lands from the University of Hawaii to the MKSOA over a five-year transition period, during which the MKSOA and the University of Hawaii will jointly manage Mauna Kea lands, provided that the MKSOA's day-to-day operations shall be carried out by the Center for Mauna Kea Stewardship for the transition period.  Following the end of the transition period, or sooner, the Department of Land and Natural Resources shall then be subject to the oversight of the MKSOA regarding the control and management of Mauna Kea lands.  Act 255 is ambiguous as to which agency has jurisdiction over conservation district lands.  Therefore, this measure clarifies this ambiguity.

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Specifying that the Chairperson of the University of Hawaii Board of Regents, with approval of the Board of Regents subject to quorum and majority requirements, may designate a member of the Board of Regents or past member of the Board of Regents with experience with Mauna Kea, to serve as the Chairperson of the University of Hawaii Board of Regents' Designee on the MKSOA; and

 

     (2)  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 Judiciary and Ways and Means that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 81, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 81, S.D. 2.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Judiciary and Ways and Means,

 

________________________________

DONOVAN M. DELA CRUZ, Chair

 

________________________________

KARL RHOADS, Chair