Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2005

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 1262, S.D. 1, entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to preserve the environmental and natural integrity of the resources of the Waianae Coast.

Specifically, this bill requires the Department of Land and Natural Resources to perform a baseline environmental study of ocean resources and state parks, containing the same information required in an environmental impact statement, in the area between Kalaeloa and Kaena point on the island of Oahu. The bill also appropriates an unspecified amount for this purpose.

Your Committee finds that a comprehensive study and inventory of nearshore and shoreline resources along the Waianae coast is necessary to help determine present and future actions to preserve the environmental and natural integrity of the area while accommodating those who use and enjoy these resources. By requiring a baseline environmental study instead of an environmental impact statement, the study can avoid the cumbersome steps required by the environmental impact statement review process under chapter 343, Hawaii Revised Statutes.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1262, S.D. 1, and recommends that it pass Third Reading.