Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2006

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 2360, S.D. 1, entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to require the owner or operator of a vessel to remove the vessel, at the owner's expense, if the vessel goes aground on submerged lands, shorelines, or coral reefs of the State.

This measure also:

Your Committee finds that current law does not allow the Department of Land and Natural Resources to take quick action to remove vessels grounded on coral reefs or in imminent danger of breaking up. Wind and even one tidal cycle can drive a boat hard aground and compound both the costs of removal and damage to the environment. This measure allows the Department of Land and Natural Resources to take immediate action when a vessel is grounded on a coral reef or is in imminent danger of breaking up and to recover costs for removal of the vessel.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

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. 2360, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2360, S.D. 2.