Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2005

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Water, Land, and Agriculture and Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 1276, H.D. 3, entitled:

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to allow the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) to enter into indemnity and defense agreements to protect landowners and persons associated with landowners.

DLNR, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Castle and Cooke Hawaii, and the Hawaii Association of Realtors submitted testimony in support of this measure.

The Poamoho trail on the island of Oahu was constructed in 1934 as a collaborative effort between the Territorial forestry division and the United States Army. Over the years, it has become one of the premier hiking trails on the island and, along with other areas of the Ewa forest reserve, is still critical for watershed protection by providing access for hunters to control the feral pig populations.

In 2002, Dole Foods Hawaii (Dole) installed a gate at the primary entrance to Poamoho and other Ewa forest reserve trails because of increasing property and crop damage, theft, and unauthorized dumping and recreational vehicle use on its property. Since then, DLNR has been negotiating an agreement with Dole to permit regulated hiking and hunting access; however, there has been difficulty in reaching an agreement because of the State's inability to indemnify Dole's affiliates for loss of property and damage claims resulting from public access. Thus, this measure allows DLNR to enter into indemnity and defense agreements to protect the landowner's affiliates from claims made by public users of the owner's land and permit the public to have access to the land.

Your Committees noted testimony from DLNR that requested the authority to reimburse indemnified landowners for small property losses totaling up to $10,000 per fiscal year. DLNR suggested that the money be provided from its Na 'Ala Hele special fund, and the process would be modeled after the one used by the Risk Management Office to settle claims. Your Committees request the Committee on Ways and Means to further evaluate the appropriateness of the DLNR request.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Water, Land, and Agriculture and Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1276, H.D. 3, and recommend that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.