STAND

STAND. COM. REP. NO.3130

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2002

RE: H.B. No. 2266

H.D. 2

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2002

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred H.B. No. 2266, H.D. 2, entitled:

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

begs leave to report as follows:

The purposes of this measure are to:

(1) Define accreted lands;

(2) Include accreted lands in the definition of public lands; and

(3) Require that accreted lands shall be state lands except that a private property owner may file an accretion claim to regain title to the owner's eroded land that has been restored by accretion.

Your Committee finds that "accreted lands," or lands formed by the gradual accumulation of land on a beach or shore along the ocean by the action of natural forces, are not unusual for an island environment. What is unusual, however, is the ambiguous legal status of these new lands. This measure would claim these formations as public lands and add clarity to the property laws of the State.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2266, H.D. 2, and recommends that it pass Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary,

		____________________________ BRIAN KANNO, Chair