STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1066

                                   Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                     , 1999

                                   RE:  H.B. No. 1183
                                        H.D. 2
                                        S.D. 1




Honorable Norman Mizuguchi
President of the Senate
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 1999
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committees on Water, Land, and Hawaiian Affairs and
Economic Development, to which was referred H.B. No. 1183,
H.D. 2, entitled: 

     "A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO BEACH LANDS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to provide for the
restoration of public beach lands.

     Specifically, the measure:

     (1)  Authorizes the Department of Land and Natural Resources
          to do all things necessary, useful, and convenient to
          restore beach land; and

     (2)  Creates a Beach Restoration Special Fund (Fund).

     The Department of Business, Economic Development, and
Tourism, the Board of Land and Natural Resources, the City and
County of Honolulu's Department of Planning and Permitting, the
Kamehameha Schools/Bernice Pauahi Bishop Estate, the Lanikai
Association, and two concerned citizens testified in support of
the measure.  The Office of Hawaiian Affairs provided qualified
support.

     Your Committees find that loss of sandy beaches is a major
environmental, social, and economic problem.  Nearly twenty-five

 
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percent or approximately seventeen miles of sandy beaches on Oahu
have been lost or severely narrowed over the past seventy years,
and similar losses have occurred on Maui, and to a lesser extent,
Kauai and Hawaii.  Given the current trends of rising global sea
levels and increased coastal development, coastal erosion is
expected to continue to be an environmental, societal, cultural,
and economic concern in the forseeable future.

     To reverse this trend, the Department of Land and Natural
Resources and the University of Hawaii Department of Geology and
Geophysics developed the Coastal Erosion Master Plan (COEMAP) in
1997 which made technical and policy recommendations for shore
and beach management and protection.  Subsequently, the
Department of Land and Natural Resources established the Coastal
Lands Program to implement the COEMAP recommendations.

     The Coastal Lands Program, in order to fully carry out its
mission, requires statutory authorization and funding.  Private
landowners affected by beach restoration action may receive
substantial benefit from the improvements and the Department of
Land and Natural Resources should actively seek contributions
from such landowners to help fund the beach restoration projects.

     Your Committees also find that as a management response to
coastal erosion, the State should investigate the applicability
of beach and dune restoration through the use of sand
nourishment.  Honokowai beach park on west Maui, Kaaawa beach
park on windward Oahu, and the Sacred Falls shoreline on windward
Oahu were identified as the three best candidates for Hawaii's
first demonstration beach restoration project.

     In light of these findings your Committees have amended the
measure by:

     (1)  Designating sections 1 - 5 as Part I;

     (2)  Deleting the phrase "state-owned coastal lands" and
          inserting therefor, the phrase "public lands within the
          state coastal zone management area" throughout the
          measure;

     (3)  Adding a Part II to the measure which appropriates
          $750,000 to conduct a beach restoration engineering
          design and analysis of the Honokowai Beach Park, the
          Kaaawa Beach Park, and the Sacred Falls shoreline;

     (4)  Changing the effective date from July 1, 2010, to
          July 1, 1999; and


 
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     (5)  Making technical, nonsubstantive changes for the
          purposes of style and clarity.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your
Committees on Water, Land, and Hawaiian Affairs and Economic
Development that are attached to this report, your Committees are
in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1183, H.D. 2,
as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in
the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1183, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, and be
referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

                                   Respectfully submitted on
                                   behalf of the members of the
                                   Committees on Water, Land, and
                                   Hawaiian Affairs and Economic
                                   Development,



____________________________       ______________________________
LORRAINE R. INOUYE, Chair          COLLEEN HANABUSA, Chair

 
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