STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1090

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 1566

       H.D. 1

       S.D. 1

Honorable Shan S. Tsutsui

President of the Senate

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2011

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred H.B. No. 1566, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO SMALL BOAT HARBORS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to establish mechanisms to improve and maintain the State's small boat harbors.

     Specifically, the measure:

(1) Authorizes the limited issuance of commercial use permits for vessels with assigned moorings in the Ala Wai and Keehi boat harbors;

(2)  Provides for future mooring fees to be established by appraisal by a state-licensed appraiser and assigned a schedule B rate, while existing mooring holders remain in a schedule A class that shall equal schedule B rates over a five-year period; and

(3) Directs the Department of Land and Natural Resources to use the request for proposals procurement process to enter into a public-private partnership for the development of portions of Ala Wai boat harbor facilities that are presently underused to maximize the revenue potential from its facilities.

     Your Committee received comments in opposition to this measure from Robert R. Humphreys, on behalf of the Association of Apartment Owners of the Ilikai; and one hundred ninety-four individuals.

     Your Committee received comments on this measure from William J. Aila, Jr., Chairperson, Department of Land and Natural Resources.

     Your Committee finds that this measure will have the following positive affects:

     (1)  Making the Ala Wai and Keehi boat harbors consistent with the other boat harbors of the State by allowing limited commercial vessel activity; 

     (2)  Ensuring that the Department of Land and Natural Resources receives a fair market return on the exclusive use of these public facilities by establishing use fees by appraised values;

     (3)  Reducing the burden on tax revenues for capital improvement projects by using fair market use fee revenues that exceed the actual operating cost of the facility for repairs, maintenance, and replacement of facilities; and

     (4)  Establishing a new funding source for the Department of Land and Natural Resources by extending the leasable areas of the harbor to the submerged lands to support the department's long-range repair and maintenance goals for public harbor facilities and providing a stepping-stone to departmental self-sufficiency.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1566, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and recommends that it pass Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

____________________________

DAVID Y. IGE, Chair