STAND. COM. REP. NO.  161

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2009

RE:   H.B. No. 1492

      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 Committee on Water, Land, & Ocean Resources, to which was referred H.B. No. 1492 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT MAKING AN APPROPRIATION FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to appropriate funds to the University of Hawaii (UH) School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology to conduct a two-year study on terminating, mitigating, and reversing beach erosion at Kailua Beach on Oahu.  This bill also requires interim and final reports to be submitted to the Legislature, Governor, and Mayor of the City and County of Honolulu prior to the 2010 and 2011 regular sessions, respectively.

     The Kailua Neighborhood Board testified in support of this bill.  The UH Sea Grant College Program supported this measure with amendments.  Several concerned individuals provided comments.

     Your Committee finds that an existing study of Kailua Beach, funded by the Department of Land and Natural Resources, is being conducted by the UH School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, Sea Grant College Program.  The study is designed to produce place-based management recommendations for ensuring conservation at Kailua Beach during the twenty-first century, with the goal of defining new and better management strategies for Kailua Beach and creating a template for place-based management on other beaches in Hawaii. 

     Accordingly, your Committee has amended this bill by clarifying that the funding provided in this bill is to augment the currently underfunded study on Kailua Beach being conducted by the UH Sea Grant College Program. 

     Your Committee has also amended this bill by making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for style, clarity, and consistency.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Water, Land, & Ocean Resources that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1492, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1492, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Higher Education.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Water, Land, & Ocean Resources,

____________________________

KEN ITO, Chair