STAND. COM. REP. NO.  428

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2009

RE:   H.B. No. 1436

      H.D. 1

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Fifth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2009

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committees on Water, Land, & Ocean Resources and Agriculture, to which was referred H.B. No. 1436 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO AGRICULTURE,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to allow the use of lands within the agricultural district for educational facilities and agricultural appurtenances for the cultivation of crops, propagation of game and fish, and raising of livestock. 

     Hawaii Agricultural Research Center, Kamehameha Schools, and Ipu Lani, Inc., testified in support of this bill.  The Sierra Club-Hawaii Chapter opposed this measure.  The Department of Agriculture, Office of Planning, and Department of Planning and Permitting of the City and County of Honolulu provided comments.

     Your Committees have amended this bill by:

(1)  Providing a definition for "appurtenances," as used in the amended paragraph; and

(2)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for style, clarity, and consistency.

     Your Committees find that educational facilities that have been permitted on agricultural lands in the past have used the special permit process, which allows the county planning commission to review the planned use.  To prevent any abuses of including educational facilities as a permissible use in the agricultural district, "educational facilities" should be defined to clarify that larger schools are still subject to the special permit process, and that the provision applies only to those educational facilities that are appurtenant to agricultural operations.  Accordingly, your Committees respectfully request the Committee on Education to formulate an appropriate definition for "educational facility," to further this intent.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Water, Land, & Ocean Resources and Agriculture that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1436, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1436, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Education.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Water, Land, & Ocean Resources and Agriculture,

____________________________ CLIFT TSUJI, Chair

____________________________ KEN ITO, Chair