Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2001

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Economic Development and Business Concerns and Water and Land Use, to which was referred H.B. No. 1338 entitled:

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to establish a special advisor and smart growth council to assist the Governor, the Legislature, and state agencies to ensure that state investments and state actions support smart growth objectives.

"Smart Growth" strategies effectuate condensed development patterns, and the full use of existing systems, mixed-used, and human-scale communities. These strategies also work to preserve productive farmlands, open space, important natural areas, and yield better solutions for roadways and housing.

Hawaii's Thousand Friends, the American Planning Association, Hawaii Chapter, and the Sierra Club, Hawaii Chapter, testified in support of the measure. The University of Hawaii Environmental Center testified in support of the intent of the measure. The Office of Planning submitted comments on the measure. Hawaii Leeward Planning Conference testified in opposition to the measure.

Your Committees would like to note that it is not the intent of this bill to usurp or supplant county planning and growth, but rather to provide an opportunity for the State to take a more proactive approach with regard to involvement in county planning.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Economic Development and Business Concerns and Water and Land Use that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1338 and recommend that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Finance.