Report Title:

House Committees on Agriculture and Water and Land Use

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.R. NO.

159

TWENTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2001

  

STATE OF HAWAII

  
   

HOUSE RESOLUTION

 

COMMISSIONING INTERIM ACTIVITY FOR THE HOUSE COMMITTEES ON WATER AND LAND USE AND AGRICULTURE TO ADDRESS LAND USE MATTERS AS MANDATED IN ARTICLE XI, SECTION 3, OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF HAWAII.

 

 

WHEREAS, Article XI, Section 3, of the Constitution of the State of Hawaii requires the Legislature to provide standards and criteria to "conserve and protect agricultural lands, promote diversified agriculture, increase agricultural self-sufficiency and assure the availability of agriculturally suitable lands" in the State; and

WHEREAS, this constitutional mandate remains unfulfilled as the Legislature has not been able to reconcile the wide differences between land owners, developers, and conservationists, particularly on land classification criteria, as well as the amount of land, and the process by which these lands are to be identified and reserved for agricultural purposes; and

WHEREAS, the availability of vast acreages of land formerly in sugar cane, a good portion of which has already been converted to diversified agricultural uses, should enable the State to meet this constitutional requirement or perhaps result in a constitutional amendment; and

WHEREAS, the House Committees on Water and Land Use and Agriculture have deferred action on land matters in the 2001 legislative session so as to devote needed time and effort to address this long standing, controversial issue during the forthcoming interim; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-first Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2001, that the House Committees on Water and Land Use and Agriculture are requested to jointly meet with all stakeholders on each island, including but not limited to: the state Departments of Agriculture and Land and Natural Resources, state planning agencies; county mayors, county councils and planning officials, land owners, developers, conservationists and agricultural groups, to determine how best to address this issue and specifically to draft legislation for action in the 2002 legislative session; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the House Committees on Water and Land Use and Agriculture are requested to include but not limit their reviews in determining the:

(1) Total acreage required to provide "agricultural self sufficiency" now and in the future;

(2) Total acreage available, in public and private lands on each island, now and in the future;

(3) Criteria and an acceptable process to identify lands which should be reserved for agricultural uses and the role of state and or county governments in this determination;

(4) Changes to or within the four land use classification districts under section 205-2, Hawaii Revised Statutes, including proposed:

(a) "Open area recreational" designations in rural districts, and

(b) Increased minimum agricultural lot sizes for consolidation and subdivision purposes proposed under S.B. No. 1469, S.D.1 (2001);

(5) The efficacy of transferring the management of state agricultural lands from the Department of Land and Natural Resources to the Department of Agriculture;

(6) The efficacy of repealing the Land Use Commission; and

(7) The efficacy of amending or repealing Section 3 of Article XI of the State Constitution;

and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the House Committees on Water and Land Use and Agriculture, with the assistance of the House Majority Staff Office, are requested to prepare suggested legislation and submit the legislation to the House of Representatives, twenty days prior to the convening of the 2002 Regular Session; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Chairperson of the House Committee on Agriculture, the Chairperson of the House Committee on Water and Land Use, all the state and county agencies referred to in this resolution, and to all conservationists, environmentalists, land owners, developers, and any other groups who have been involved in this issue as identified by the House Majority Staff Office, and to all parties on the mailing lists of the Water and Land Use and Agriculture Committees.

 

 
 

OFFERED BY:

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