STAND

STAND. COM. REP. NO. 968

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2005

RE: H.B. No. 1640

H.D. 3

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2005

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Finance, to which was referred H.B. No. 1640, H.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO IMPORTANT AGRICULTURAL LANDS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to comply with constitutional mandates to conserve and protect agricultural land, and to promote agricultural development by:

(1) Establishing a new part in the Land Use Commission (LUC) law that sets forth policies and procedures for important agricultural lands (IALs), including:

(A) Policies that promote the long-term viability of agricultural use on IALs;

(B) Standards and criteria for the identification of IALs;

(D) Standards and criteria for the reclassification or rezoning of IALs; and

(E) Incentive policies for IALs to achieve long-term agricultural viability and use of the lands;

(2) Requiring agricultural incentive programs to be developed concurrently with the process of identifying IALs specified in paragraph (1);

(3) Establishing that the designation of IALs and adoption of maps by LUC shall take effect only upon enactment of legislation containing incentives and protections for IALs;

(4) Providing for a process to develop proposals for state and county incentives;

(5) Appropriating $100,000 for the development of proposals for incentives and other programs for agricultural development and land protection;

(6) Appropriating $2,000,000 for grants-in-aid to the counties for the identification and mapping of IALs; and

(7) Conforming various land use provisions under the LUC law, including district boundary amendments, special permits, and LUC decision-making criteria, to the policies, procedures, processes, and standards established for IALs in this bill.

The Land Use Research Foundation, Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation, Big Island Farm Bureau, Hamakua County Farm Bureau, Maui County Farm Bureau, Hawaii Aquaculture Association, Hawaii Crop Improvement Association, Alexander & Baldwin, Inc., Landscape Industry Council of Hawaii, and several concerned citizens supported the bill. The Department of Agriculture supported the intent of this bill with amendments. The Office of Planning, Hawaii Agriculture Research Center, Hawaii Association of REALTORS, and a concerned individual supported the intent of this measure. The Department of Taxation and the Department of Planning and Permitting of the City and County of Honolulu opposed this bill. The Department of Land and Natural Resources, Tax Foundation of Hawaii, Sierra Club, Hawaii Chapter, and the Environmental Center of the University of Hawaii offered comments.

Your Committee has amended this bill by:

(1) Changing the effective date to July 1, 2010, to promote further discussion;

(2) Changing the appropriation amounts contained in this bill to $1 to promote further discussion; and

(3) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for style, clarity, and consistency.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Finance that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1640, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1640, H.D. 3.

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

		____________________________ DWIGHT TAKAMINE, Chair