Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2004

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Water, Land Use, and Hawaiian Affairs and Energy and Environmental Protection, to which was referred S.B. No. 2782, S.D. 1, entitled:

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to provide the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) with the same financial flexibility in administering its habitat conservation plans as federal guidelines provide for habitat conservation plans administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS).

DLNR, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Kauai Island Utility Cooperative, Planning Solutions, the Gas Company, the Nature Conservancy, On Solid Ground Consulting, and the Land Use Research Foundation of Hawaii testified in support of this bill.

Your Committees find that current laws require landowners applying for a habitat conservation plan to post a bond or deposit money into a fund administered by DLNR to assure the habitat conservation plan will be carried out and monitored. However, few bonding companies will issue bonds of this nature, and many small companies and individual landowners lack the necessary funds to apply for approval of the habitat conservation plans.

This bill proposes a variety of different financial tools to meet the need of habitat conservation plans should anything happen to the applicant. The USFWS has similar flexibility in their process as the federal guidelines state that the "completion of mitigation requirements should be ensured through a letter of Credit or other means." This measure would give DLNR comparable flexibility and compatibility with the USFWS when working with landowners in Hawaii.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Water, Land Use, and Hawaiian Affairs and Energy and Environmental Protection that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2782, S.D. 1, and recommend that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Finance.