STAND

STAND. COM. REP. NO. 508-04

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2004

RE: H.B. No. 2167

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2004

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred H.B. No. 2167 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC ACCESS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to ensure public access to shoreline and inland areas.

This bill requires the counties to adopt ordinances prohibiting the development of private gated communities that deny public access to any shoreline area or any inland area customarily used for recreational or cultural purposes.

This bill also amends the law relating to all subdivisions by:

(1) Expanding the dedication requirements by mandating that land be provided for parking in addition to public access;

(2) Requiring public access to all inland areas customarily used by the public instead of to just areas in the mountains with existing facilities; and

(3) Requiring public access to areas that are not only used for recreational purposes but also for cultural purposes.

Hawaii's Thousand Friends and Sierra Club, Hawaii Chapter, testified in support of this bill. The Land Use Research Foundation of Hawaii opposed this measure.

Your Committee finds that we must be proactive in addressing problems associated with encroachment of private residential development on public access to Hawaii's natural resources.

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. 2167 and recommends that it pass Third Reading.

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

		____________________________ ERIC G. HAMAKAWA, Chair