STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1000-00

                                 Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                   , 2000

                                 RE: S.B. No. 2513
                                     S.D. 1
                                     H.D. 1




Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say
Speaker, House of Representatives
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 2000
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Water and Land Use, to which was referred
S.B. No. 2513, S.D. 1, entitled: 

     "A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CONVEYANCE TAX,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to broaden the use of the
natural area reserve fund by including watershed management
projects.

     The Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR), the
Land Use Research Foundation of Hawaii, The Nature Conservancy of
Hawaii, and the Sierra Club, Hawaii Chapter, testified in support
of this bill.

     No testimony in opposition of this bill was received.

     Your Committee finds that public and private interests
together made investments to assure a healthy and effectively
managed forest watershed.  Although our state is reaping the
benefits of past investments, public investment in watershed
management has diminished while our community's demand for water
resources and attendant watershed values has increased
dramatically. Private landowners own half of the remaining
forested lands in Hawaii, however, there are few incentives for
private landowners to invest in managing their forested
watershed.  

 
 
                                 STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1000-00
                                 Page 2

 
     Watershed partnerships have been the most efficient and cost
effective way to protect our water resources and native species.
Landscape-level watershed partnerships have been formed to
cooperatively manage our state's most valuable forested
watershed.

     Increased and sustained funding is urgently needed to allow
these innovative partnerships to deliver needed management
activities on the ground.  Excess funding from the Natural Area
Reserve Fund via legislation provisos has already provided
matching State funds to attract County, Federal and private
grants to fund such mandatory projects as alien species control,
watershed fencing projects, and planning for the establishment of
the watershed partnerships.

     Your committee amended this bill by removing language
stating that the funds paid into the natural area reserve fund
will be annually disbursed to the natural area partnership and
forest stewardship programs.  Technical, nonsubstantive
amendments to the bill have also been made 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 S.B.
No. 2513, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass
Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2513, S.D.
1, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Finance.

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



                                   ______________________________
                                   ROMY M. CACHOLA, Chair