STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2948

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 2593

       H.D. 2

       S.D. 1

Honorable Shan S. Tsutsui

President of the Senate

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2012

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committees on Energy and Environment and Water, Land, and Housing, to which was referred H.B. No. 2593, H.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EMERGENCY RULES FOR THREATS TO NATURAL RESOURCES OR THE HEALTH OF THE ENVIRONMENT,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to authorize state and county agencies to adopt, amend, or repeal administrative rules, without prior notice or hearing or upon an abbreviated notice and hearing, due to imminent peril to natural resources.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources, Coordinating Group on Alien Pest Species, and The Nature Conservancy.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Land Use Research Foundation of Hawaii.

     Your Committees find that state and county agencies are authorized to adopt, amend, and repeal administrative rules, exempt from certain notice and hearing requirements, in emergency situations of imminent peril to the public health, safety, or morals, or to livestock and poultry health.  Hawaii's imperiled natural resources warrant similar consideration, in part because Hawaii's tourism-driven economy relies heavily on natural resources to attract visitors.

     Your Committees note that state and county agencies were powerless to adopt emergency administrative rules relating to coqui frogs and axis deer.  Consequently, the spread of these species has caused significant damage to natural resources and the economy as a whole. 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

     (1)  Changing the effective date to upon approval; 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 Energy and Environment and Water, Land, and Housing that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2593, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2593, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Labor.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Energy and Environment and Water, Land, and Housing,

____________________________ DONOVAN M. DELA CRUZ, Chair

____________________________ MIKE GABBARD, Chair