STAND. COM. REP. NO.  422

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2009

RE:   H.B. No. 593

      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. 593 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO SHORELINE SETBACKS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to direct the Board of Land and Natural Resources to adopt rules for determining the shoreline setback area and the mauka extent of the conservation district for Kailua Beach.

     The Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR); Beach Access Hawaii; The Free Ocean Project; the Kailua Neighborhood Board; Sierra Club, Hawaii Chapter; the Surfrider Foundation; and several concerned individuals testified in support of this bill.  The Department of Business, Economic Development, & Tourism offered testimony in support of this measure with amendments.  The Office of Hawaiian Affairs opposed this bill.

     Your Committee has amended this bill by granting DLNR a two-year period in which to establish a two-year interim coastal construction moratorium along Kailua Beach to:

     (1)  Protect development from coastal hazards;

     (2)  Conserve and protect the beach;

     (3)  Preserve recreational uses; or

     (4)  Minimize future impact to the coastal ecosystem. 

     DLNR's authority to establish the moratorium sunsets after two years.  Any moratorium in effect at the sunset date, however, will remain in effect until it expires.

     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. 593, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 593, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Finance.

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

____________________________

KEN ITO, Chair