STAND. COM. REP. NO. 456-04
Honolulu, Hawaii
, 2004
RE: H.B. No. 1956
H.D. 1
Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say
Speaker, House of Representatives
Twenty-Second State Legislature
Regular Session of 2004
State of Hawaii
Sir:
Your Committees on Agriculture and Water, Land Use, and Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 1956 entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO AGRICULTURAL LAND PRESERVATION,"
beg leave to report as follows:
The purpose of this bill is to:
(1) Designate lands and their uses as important agricultural lands (IALs) and establish provisions for their reclassification;
(2) Provide incentives to landowners who voluntarily designate their lands as IALs, by establishing:
(a) Transferable development credits;
(b) Real property tax credits;
(c) Infrastructure improvement credits; and
(d) Use tax exemption;
(3) Provide water to lands designated as IALs; and
(4) Make provisions to change major land use districts from four (urban, rural, agricultural, and conservation) to three (agricultural, conservation, and other lands).
The Office of Planning of the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism and the Ko'olauloa Agriculture Coalition submitted testimony opposing this measure.
Your Committees have raised serious concerns that since the State Water Code (Code) is a complex and balanced document, any amendments to the Code should be examined thoroughly. Therefore, your Committees have removed all the proposed amendments to the Code in this measure, because they have not yet been subjected to such thorough examination.
Your Committees have further amended this bill by:
(1) Deleting all references to the IAL designation and use process, including voluntary landowner designation of IALs;
(2) Deleting provisions to change major land use districts from four (urban, rural, agricultural, and conservation) to three (agricultural, conservation, and other lands);
(3) Changing the effective date of the measure to July 1, 2010; and
(4) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for clarity, consistency, and style.
As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Agriculture and Water, Land Use, and Hawaiian Affairs that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1956, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1956, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Finance.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Agriculture and Water, Land Use, and Hawaiian Affairs,
|
____________________________ EZRA R. KANOHO, Chair |
____________________________ FELIPE P. ABINSAY, JR., Chair |