Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2002

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Water, Land, Energy and Environment and Judiciary, to which was referred S.B. No. 2810 entitled:

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to clarify who can participate in Safe Harbor Agreements and Habitat Conservation Plans, and to establish consistent standards for public and private lands.

Testimony in support of this measure was received from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, Department of Land and Natural Resources, Department of Transportation, Housing and Community Development Corporation of Hawaii, Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority, Ducks Unlimited, The Nature Conservancy of Hawaii, Land Use Research Foundation of Hawaii, Hawaii Leeward Planning Conference, The Estate of James Campbell, The Gentry Companies, and Cyanotech Corporation. The Conservation Council for Hawai'i, Earthjustice, Hawaii Audubon Society, Life of the Land, and Sierra Club Hawai'i Chapter testified in opposition.

Your Committees find that the Nineteenth Legislature amended Chapter 195D, Hawaii Revised Statutes, to allow for the implementation of Safe Harbor Agreements and Habitat Conservation Plans, in complement to the federal Endangered Species Act. Safe Harbor Agreements provide encouragement for landowners who are

interested in promoting endangered species on their property, but are concerned by the long-term liabilities those species might create. Habitat Conservation Plans provide a flexible framework for landowners to move ahead with land-use projects, despite the current presence of endangered species on their land.

Your Committees understand that while there is opposition to some components of these plans, there are safeguards in place. The Board of Land and Natural Resources is not the sole decision-maker as to whether these standards have been met. The law requires that any proposal must meet the approval of an advisory committee, that there be a sixty-day public review period, and that there be a public hearing on the island affected.

Your Committees have also heard that at present there are a number of situations in which these plans are needed, but the landowner is ineligible. For example, there are Safe Harbor Agreements and Habitat Conservation Plans proposed that involve Hawaiian stilts in Kona and an aquaculture facility, an endangered plant at Kapolei and the North-South Road, candidate endangered species and Watershed Partnerships, and the University of Hawaii and dry forest restoration. All of these are currently stalled at the State level by the definition of landowner.

Your Committees find that this measure will provide protection for Hawaii's endangered species and fragile natural resources. Your Committees have amended this measure to clarify that landowner consent is required for these plans, and to extend confidentiality protection for private lands only.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Water, Land, Energy and Environment and Judiciary that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2810, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2810, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.