STAND. COM. REP. NO. 430

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 1154

       S.D. 1

Honorable Shan S. Tsutsui

President of the Senate

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2011

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committees on Water, Land, and Housing and Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 1154 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HISTORIC PRESERVATION,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1)  Establish a South Kona Wilderness Area on the Island of Hawaii to preserve vulnerable visual, natural, and historical aspects of the lands; and

(2)  Require the Department of Land and Natural Resources to coordinate a plan for the management of the Wilderness Area.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from The Nature Conservancy; Robert K. Lindsey, Jr., Trustee, Office of Hawaiian Affairs; Jeffrey Edwards; Pedro Velasco, Jr.; Leighton M. Kahele; Maria Day; Kaiali‘i Kahele; L.P. Neenz Faleafine; and Leanne Yanabu.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of the Attorney General and the Department of Land and Natural Resources.

     Your Committees find that endemic Hawaiian plants and animals thrive in the undeveloped South Kona area that includes Honomalino, Okoe, Kapu‘a, Kaulanamauna, and Manuka.  Your Committees also find that this area possesses sites of visual, historical, and cultural significance, such as a holua slide, heiau, and burial caves.  As a consequence of these findings, your Committees believe it is imperative to support and preserve these aspects of South Kona by placing restrictions on development.

     Your Committees further find that this measure would require the Department of Land and Natural Resources to support and preserve these unique aspects of South Kona.  Your Committees have heard the Department of Land and Natural Resources' concerns regarding the need for additional resources and formal planning to carry out the intent of this measure.

     Accordingly, your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1)  Eliminating the provision regarding the Department of Land and Natural Resources' duty to create a management plan for the South Kona Wilderness Area; and

(2)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Water, Land, and Housing and Hawaiian Affairs that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1154, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1154, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Water, Land, and Housing and Hawaiian Affairs,

____________________________ BRICKWOOD GALUTERIA, Chair

____________________________ DONOVAN M. DELA CRUZ, Chair