STAND. COM. REP. NO.  602-14

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2014

RE:   H.B. No. 1823

      H.D. 1

Honorable Joseph M. Souki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2014

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committees on Consumer Protection & Commerce and Judiciary, to which was referred H.B. No. 1823, H.D. 1, entitled:

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

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to require the Board of Land and Natural Resources to engage in good faith efforts to resolve, through nonbinding mediation, appraisal disputes relating to public lands to be disposed of by drawing or negotiation, the repurchase of land by the Board, or the reopening of the rental to be paid on a lease.

     The measure also specifies the procedures for binding arbitration if the nonbinding mediation fails to resolve a dispute relating to the reopening of the rental to be paid on a lease.

The Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Kitchen and Beyond, Hilo Bay Printing Company, McCully Works, Citizens for Fair Valuation, Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation, Hawaii Cattlemen's Council, and one individual testified in support of the measure.

     Your Committees find that mediation is a cost-effective and efficient means to find common ground and resolve disputes.  Your Committees believe that by requiring good faith efforts to resolve certain appraisal disputes through nonbinding mediation, this measure will allow the parties to work collaboratively toward mutually beneficial solutions.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Consumer Protection & Commerce and Judiciary that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1823, H.D. 1, and recommend that it pass Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Consumer Protection & Commerce and Judiciary,

____________________________ KARL RHOADS, Chair

____________________________ ANGUS L.K. McKELVEY, Chair