STAND. COM. REP. NO. 123

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 723

Honorable Shan S. Tsutsui

President of the Senate

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2011

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Energy and Environment, to which was referred S.B. No. 723 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENTS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to extend from July 1, 2011, to July 1, 2015, the sunset date of Act 87, Session Laws of Hawaii 2009, which exempts from the State's environmental impact statement law certain projects that are not subject to discretionary consent but involve ancillary actions connecting to infrastructure on public rights-of-way.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Transportation; Loretta J. Fuddy, Department of Health; James K. Mee, National Association of Industrial and Office Properties; The Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii; Attilio Leonardi, Jr., Kapolei Chamber of Commerce; Karen Nakamura, Building Industry Association of Hawaii; Myoung Oh, Hawai‘i Association of Realtors; David Arakawa, Land Use Research Foundation of Hawaii; and Rouen Liu, Hawaiian Electric Company, Inc.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from Denise Antolini.

     Your Committee finds that many improvements which require only ministerial, non-discretionary permitting involve secondary actions to connect to infrastructure in public rights-of-way and that this measure is necessary for such projects to avoid the long and costly environmental review process that would otherwise be mandated and in many cases discourage these improvements and their consequent economic benefits.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Energy and Environment that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 723 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Labor.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Energy and Environment,

____________________________

MIKE GABBARD, Chair