STAND

STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1629

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2005

RE: S.B. No. 1877

H.D. 1

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 S.B. No. 1877, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE OFFICE OF PLANNING,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to improve land use and state planning by:

(1) Clarifying that the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism (DBEDT) has sole jurisdiction over certain land use and state planning functions;

(2) Requiring the Office of Planning to report to DBEDT and directly to no other principal executive department; and

(3) Requiring the Director of the Office of Planning to be nominated by the Governor and appointed by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Senate.

Hawaii's Thousand Friends and two concerned individuals testified in support of this bill. The Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation supported this measure with amendments. DBEDT and the Office of Planning opposed this bill. The University of Hawaii Environmental Center submitted comments.

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 S.B. No. 1877, H.D. 1, and recommends that it pass Third Reading.

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

		____________________________ DWIGHT TAKAMINE, Chair