STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2087

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 3010

       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 Transportation and International Affairs and Public Safety, Government Operations, and Military Affairs and Energy and Environment, to which was referred S.B. No. 3010 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO TRANSPORTATION,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to expedite construction projects for the bridge rehabilitation and replacement program of the Department of Transportation by providing temporary exemptions from certain state and county requirements.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from Control Point Surveying, Inc., General Contractors Association of Hawaii, and one individual.  Testimony in opposition was submitted by the Department of Business, Economic Development, & Tourism; Department of Health; and Office of Environmental Quality Control.  Comments were received from the University of Hawaii, State Department of Transportation, and Department of Land and Natural Resources.

     Your Committees find that there are currently seven hundred fifty-six state-owned bridges, of which two hundred fifty-six are functionally obsolete and thirty-nine are structurally deficient.  According to testimony of the Department of Transportation, at the current rate of rehabilitation and replacement of one to three bridges per year, it will take well over fifty years to address all the deficient bridges.  Meanwhile, other bridges that are not currently deficient will gradually deteriorate.

     Your Committees request the Department of Transportation to give priority to the Hana Highway bridge preservation plan, as well as other bridges in the Hana district that have deteriorated over the years and may pose an imminent danger of collapse.

     Your Committees wish to make note that the various departments need to see the larger picture in this measure for the greater good of the State rather than be overly concerned about their own respective operations.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

     (1)  Adding language to provide against the impairment of federal funds to the State; 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 Transportation and International Affairs and Public Safety, Government Operations, and Military Affairs and Energy and Environment that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 3010, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 3010, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Transportation and International Affairs and Public Safety, Government Operations, and Military Affairs and Energy and Environment,

____________________________ WILL ESPERO, Chair	____________________________ J. KALANI ENGLISH, Chair
	____________________________ MIKE GABBARD, Chair