CONFERENCE COMMITTEE REP. NO. 152

Honolulu, Hawaii

                 , 2013

RE:    S.B. No. 5

       S.D. 1

       H.D. 1

       C.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2013

State of Hawaii

Honorable Joseph M. Souki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2013

State of Hawaii

Madam and Sir:

     Your Committee on Conference on the disagreeing vote of the Senate to the amendments proposed by the House of Representatives in S.B. No. 5, S.D. 1, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC LANDS,"

having met, and after full and free discussion, has agreed to recommend and does recommend to the respective Houses the final passage of this bill in an amended form.

     The purpose of this measure is to provide fair compensation to lessees when a withdrawal or taking by the State of land leased for intensive agricultural or pastoral uses renders the land unusable for the lessees' original intended purposes.

     Your Committee on Conference finds that the Department of Land and Natural Resources established conservation easements on approximately six thousand acres of lands, originally leased for pasture or special livestock use, in order to widen Saddle Road in the County of Hawaii.  As a result, the lessee ranchers were prevented from grazing cattle and effectively deprived of their use of the land.

     Although the Department reduced the lease rent in proportion to the taking of the land, the lessees received no other compensation.  Existing law also provides no other method of compensation.  However, the lessees are still required by their leases to maintain insurance on the land and pay taxes for the land they cannot use for the specific purpose for which it was originally leased.  As a result, several lessees reduced their herd size and have been unable to mitigate the long-term, fixed costs associated with operating a ranch in the way they anticipated when the lease was negotiated.  Thus, the lessees have experienced financial hardship for an extended period of time that is not sufficiently mitigated by a reduction in their lease rent.

     Your Committee on Conference has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Changing the effective date to upon approval; and

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

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the managers of your Committee on Conference that is attached to this report, your Committee on Conference is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 5, S.D. 1, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Final Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 5, S.D. 1, H.D. 1, C.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the managers:

ON THE PART OF THE HOUSE

ON THE PART OF THE SENATE

____________________________ JESSICA WOOLEY, Co-Chair	____________________________ MALAMA SOLOMON, Chair
____________________________ CINDY EVANS, Co-Chair	____________________________ RONALD D. KOUCHI, Co-Chair
____________________________ RICHARD H.K. ONISHI, Co-Chair