Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2003

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Water, Land, and Agriculture, to which was referred S.B. No. 511 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to appropriate funds for a complete master plan and environmental impact statement for the Ahupua`a o Kahana.

Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Kahea, Ka Lahui Hawai`i, several residents of Kahana, and the Native Hawaiian Protocol and Consultant Services. Testimony in support of the measure, with amendments, was submitted by two residents of Kahana. Testimony in support of the intent of the measure was submitted by the Board of Land and Natural Resources. Testimony in opposition to the measure was submitted by the Agribusiness Development Corporation; farmers who use water from the Waiahole Ditch, including Del Monte Fresh Produce (Hawaii), Inc.; the Hawaii Agriculture Research Center, and the Hawaii Farm Bureau. The Department of Budget and Finance submitted comments on the measure.

Your Committee finds that Kahana is the only remaining ahupua`a in the main Hawaiian Islands owned by one owner, and the only one in the State owned by the State. Kahana is of cultural, historic and natural significance to the State, but it does not have a master plan, despite several piecemeal studies having been done over the years. Lack of a master plan has caused the loss, through ineffective management, of natural and human resources. A Legislative Reference Bureau report also recommends creation of a master plan.

Your Committee finds that interested parties agree that instead of appropriating money from the Waiahole Ditch system for the master plan, funds should be appropriated from general funds. Accordingly, your Committee has amended the measure to effectuate the suggested amendment.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Water, Land, and Agriculture that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 511, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 511, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.