Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2003

State of Hawaii

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2003

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Conference on the disagreeing vote of the Senate to the amendments proposed by the House of Representatives in S.B. No. 254, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, entitled:

having met, and after full and free discussion, has agreed to recommend and does recommend to the respective Houses the final passage of this bill in an amended form.

The purpose of this measure is to amend a prior appropriation to demolish and rebuild a bridge crossing Waimea Irrigation System in Puukapu Homesteads, Second Series Puukapu, South Kohala, Island of Hawaii.

Your Committee on Conference finds that homeowners, on Kamuela property that was subdivided to two-acre parcels in 1926, are facing a serious safety issue because of a wooden bridge used to access their property. The bridge crosses a state-owned and managed irrigation ditch to provide access to seven lots on the north side of the ditch running through the subdivision. The ditch was used to irrigate sugar cane fields along the Hamakua Coast and was managed by the Department of Land and Natural Resources until the late 1980s, when it was transferred to the Department of Agriculture. Because no other vehicular access is available, residents continue to use the wooden bridge, which is in such serious disrepair that emergency vehicles refuse to cross it. Your Committee finds that it is in the public interest of health, safety, and welfare to demolish the existing bridge and build a new one.

Your Committee has amended this measure by changing the effective date from July 1, 2010, to July 1, 2003.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the managers of your Committee on Conference that is attached to this report, your Committee on Conference is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 254, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Final Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 254, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, C.D. 1.