STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1210

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2005

RE: S.B. No. 1897

S.D. 2

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 Water, Land, & Ocean Resources, to which was referred S.B. No. 1897, S.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO LAND CONSERVATION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to establish permanent adequate funding for land conservation by:

(1) Increasing the conveyance tax on a sliding scale;

(2) Dedicating ten percent of the annual proceeds from the conveyance tax to the Land Conservation Fund (Conservation Fund);

(3) Establishing a stable funding mechanism for the Natural Area Reserve Fund (Reserve Fund) by dedicating 25 percent of the conveyance tax to the Reserve Fund; and

(4) Allowing grants to be made to state agencies, counties, and nonprofit land conservation organizations to acquire interest in lands having a value as a resource to the State.

Members of the Hawaii County Council, a member of the Maui County Council, County of Kauai Planning Department, Sierra Club-Hawaii Chapter, Hawaii's Thousand Friends, Conservation Council of Hawaii, The Nature Conservancy, Kona Land Trust, Big Island Farm Bureau, KAHEA-The Hawaiian-Environmental Alliance, Rocky Mountain Institute, Mauna Kea Anaina Hou, Maui Coastal Land Trust, Hawaii Invasive Species Management & Education Corporation, Kaua'i Public Land Trust, Malama Mahaulepu, The Trust for Public Land, Na Leo Pohai, North Shore Community Land Trust, and numerous concerned individuals testified in support of this bill. The Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation conditionally supported this measure. The Department of Taxation, Department of Agriculture, Department of Land and Natural Resources, Maui Land and Pineapple Company, Inc., American Farmland Trust, and Hawaii Agriculture Research Center supported the intent of the measure. Cendant Timeshare Resort Group, Inc., Fairfield Resorts, Inc., Land Use Research Foundation of Hawaii, and Hawaii Association of Realtors testified in opposition to this bill. The Tax Foundation of Hawaii and Ko'olau Mountains Watershed Partnership submitted comments.

Your Committee has amended this measure by deleting its contents and inserting the substantive provisions of H.B. No. 1308 H.D. 1. As amended, this bill establishes permanent adequate funding for land conservation by:

(1) Dedicating 25 percent of the annual proceeds from the conveyance tax to the Conservation Fund;

(2) Exempting the Conservation Fund from the five percent fee collected for government central service expenses relating to all special funds;

(3) Including land with agricultural production and cultural value as "land having value as a resource to the State" by definition;

(4) Allowing grants to be made to state agencies, counties, and nonprofit land conservation organizations to acquire interest in lands having a value as a resource to the State;

(5) Clarifying that grants may be made for the purchase of permanent conservation easements;

(6) Requiring that any permanent conservation easement in partnership with a federal land conservation program may be transferred only as provided by the rules of the federal program;

(7) Excluding any re-depositing or crediting of monies to the Conservation Fund for rents of property protected by permanent conservation easements established by grants from the Conservation Fund;

(8) Establishing a stable funding mechanism for the Reserve Fund by dedicating 25 percent of the conveyance tax to the Reserve Fund; and

(9) Appropriating funds for three priority project areas that are eligible for federal funding to secure matching funding for the Federal Farm and Ranchlands Protection Program.

Technical, nonsubstantive amendments were also made for clarity, consistency, and style.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Water, Land, & Ocean Resources that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1897, S.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1897, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Finance.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Water, Land, & Ocean Resources,

 

____________________________

EZRA R. KANOHO, Chair