STAND. COM. REP. NO. 463

                                 Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                   , 1999

                                 RE: H.B. No. 582
                                     H.D. 1




Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say
Speaker, House of Representatives
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 1999
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Water and Land Use, to which was referred
H.B. No. 582 entitled: 

     "A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO LANDOWNER LIABILITY,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to grant property owners
immunity from civil liability incurred when a person is injured
on the owner's land while engaging in a "recreational purpose".  

     Your Committee received testimony as follows:

     1.   Board of Land and Natural Resources, City and County of
          Honolulu Department of the Corporation Counsel, two
          county councilmembers, State Farm Insurance Companies,
          Na Ala Hele Advisory Council, in support; 

     2.   Consumer Lawyers of Hawaii, in opposition; and

     3.   County of Hawaii Office of the Corporation Counsel,
          offering comment.  

     Your Committee finds that granting liability protection will
enable landowners to open their land for greater access to the
public for recreational purposes.  It is not the intent of your
Committee to give complete immunity or exempt landowners from
negligence.  The immunity will not exempt activities for which
the landowner charges users, or willful or malicious failure to
guard or warn of dangerous conditions or activities, which are
covered in Section 520-5, Hawaii Revised Statutes.  

     Limiting the liability protection for government-owned lands
to the state trails and access system will help to alleviate the

 
                                 STAND. COM. REP. NO. 463
                                 Page 2

 
concerns of those with reservations about restrictions on
landowner liability.  

     Your Committee revised the bill by:  

     1.   Reducing the immunity for government-owned lands to
          trails and access; and 

     2.   Making technical, non-substantive changes for the
          purposes of style and clarity.  

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your
Committee on Water and Land Use that is attached to this report,
your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B.
No. 582, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second
Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 582, H.D. 1, and
be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs.

                                   Respectfully submitted on
                                   behalf of the members of the
                                   Committee on Water and Land
                                   Use,



                                   ______________________________
                                   Romy M. Cachola, Chair