STAND. COM. REP. NO. 468

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 1683

       S.D. 1

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2007

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committees on Transportation and International Affairs and Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 1683 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO AIRCRAFT NOISE,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to provide immediate regulatory relief from aircraft noise impacts on the urban population and recreational resources within airport flight control and noise abatement areas.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Governor's Office, Department of Transportation (DOT), Waikiki Area Residents Association, Citizens Against Noise of Hawaii, and ten individuals.

     Your Committees find that, in recent years, other states have actively addressed citizen concerns about aircraft noise that disrupt normal living conditions, and that these states have adopted comprehensive noise abatement regulations to improve and restore the health, welfare, and quality of life of their urban populations, and to sustain the general public's valued experience of natural and recreational resources.  In Hawaii, aircraft noise is particularly acute because most airports are located near residential areas.

     Your Committees are cognizant that the testimony of the Governor's Office and the DOT indicate that this measure is unnecessary because the DOT already monitors aircraft noise.  However, the vehemence of the testimony condemning aircraft noise justifies the passage of this measure in response to the public's complaints.

     Your Committees have amended this measure on the recommendation of the DOT to delete some noise control and reduction methodologies that are under the jurisdiction of the Federal Aviation Administration or are otherwise redundant of current DOT powers in other statutes.  Technical, nonsubstantive amendments were made for purposes of clarity and style.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Transportation and International Affairs and Health that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1683, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1683, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Transportation and International Affairs and Health,

____________________________ DAVID Y. IGE, Chair

____________________________ J. KALANI ENGLISH, Chair