STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2632

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2189

       S.D. 1

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2008

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 2189, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO MAKUA,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to establish the Makua Valley Reserve Commission to oversee preservation and restoration efforts in Makua Valley.

     Specifically, this measure:

     (1)  Establishes the Makua Valley Reserve and limits its future uses in perpetuity to cultural, archaeological, and environmental preservation, restoration, protection, and education;

     (2)  Establishes the Makua Valley Reserve Commission to have authority over the control and management of the Makua Valley;

     (3)  Creates penalties for violating laws or rules applicable to the Makua Valley Reserve;

     (4)  Establishes that, upon expiration of the Army's lease on the valley, the valley shall be held in trust as part of the public land trust, and provides for the valley's transfer to a sovereign native Hawaiian entity upon its recognition by the United States and the State; and

     (5)  Establishes the Makua Valley rehabilitation trust fund.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from a concerned individual, and also received comments from a concerned individual.  Testimony in opposition to this measure was received from the Department of Land and Natural Resources.

     Your Committee finds that Makua Valley is home to significant cultural, historical, and environmental resources, and that the creation of the Makua Valley Reserve Commission will provide an effective mechanism for restoring and preserving these natural resources.

     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. 2189, S.D. 1, and recommends that it pass Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

____________________________

ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair