STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2368

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2486

       S.D. 1

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2008

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committees on Water and Land and Agriculture and Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 2486 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO WATER,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to clarify that moneys in the Special Land and Development Fund may be expended for water and irrigations systems, as part of the regulation of water resources.

     Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources.

     Your Committees note the testimony of the Department of Land and Natural Resources that the primary jurisdiction and authority for irrigation systems that are mainly used for agricultural purposes rests with the Department of Agriculture and the Agribusiness Development Corporation.  However, your Committee finds that water and irrigation systems are an integral part of the water resources under the State Water Code, which states in pertinent part in section 174C-2, Hawaii Revised Statutes:

     "The state water code shall be liberally interpreted to obtain maximum beneficial use of the waters of the State for purposes such as domestic uses, aquaculture uses, irrigation and other agricultural uses, power development, and commercial and industrial uses."

     Your Committees believe this measure should continue through the legislative process while the Legislature awaits a forthcoming Auditor report on irrigation.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by changing the effective date to July 1, 2050, to continue the discussions in this matter.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Water and Land and Agriculture and Hawaiian Affairs that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2486, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2486, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Water and Land and Agriculture and Hawaiian Affairs,

____________________________ JILL TOKUDA, Chair

____________________________ CLAYTON HEE, Chair