Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2004

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Water, Land Use, and Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 2530 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to protect persons from injury and death, and property from damage, caused by falling rocks and land slides, by requiring each county to enact zoning ordinances that:

Two residents of Nuuanu testified in support of this bill. Testimony in opposition was provided by the City and County of Honolulu Department of Planning and Permitting (County). The Land Use Research Foundation of Hawaii commented.

The County opposed the bill because it would increase County responsibilities by mandating inspections, monitoring, and actions to mitigate the dangers posed by rock slide and land slide areas. The County stated that they would be "flooded with calls from property owners requesting inspection of their hillsides." Your Committee also heard testimony that the bill was premature because responsibility for the costs of buffering or mitigating potential hazards in existing and proposed developments had not been determined.

Your Committee recognizes that this is an extremely contentious matter in which lives and property are in jeopardy, and in which the difficult and controversial issues of who absorbs the responsibility and cost for identification and mitigation of hazardous areas have not been resolved. In light of legislative deadlines your Committee requests that the Committee on Judiciary continue discussion of this most important bill.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Water, Land Use, and Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2530 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary.