STAND. COM. REP. NO.  165-10

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2010

RE:   H.B. No. 2923

      H.D. 1

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Fifth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2010

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committees on Water, Land, & Ocean Resources and Tourism, Culture, & International Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 2923 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC LANDS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to maximize the economic viability of businesses that lease public lands and Hawaiian Home Lands for commercial or industrial uses by authorizing the Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) and Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, respectively, to extend the leases for 65 years upon a development agreement to improve the leased land.

     The DeBartolo Group and a concerned individual testified in support of this bill.  The Department of Hawaiian Home Lands and Hawaiian Homes Commission supported the intent of this measure.  The Department of Land and Natural Resources; Waimea Hawaiian Homesteaders' Association, Inc.; State Council of Hawaiian Homestead Associations; and numerous concerned individuals opposed this bill.

     Your Committees have amended this bill by:

(1)  Removing BLNR and public lands over which it has control from the scope of this bill;

(2)  Reducing the length of the extension from 65 years to 34 years; and

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

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Water, Land, & Ocean Resources and Tourism, Culture, & International Affairs that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2923, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2923, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Finance.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Water, Land, & Ocean Resources and Tourism, Culture, & International Affairs,

____________________________ JOEY MANAHAN, Chair

____________________________ KEN ITO, Chair