STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2467

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2330

       S.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2014

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Water and Land, to which was referred S.B. No. 2330 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE KANEOHE BAY REGIONAL COUNCIL,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

     (1)  Remove the Superintendent of Education from the Kaneohe Bay Regional Council;

     (2)  Delete the requirements that the Chairperson of the Council be a nongovernmental member and that the Chairperson may not serve more than 2 consecutive years;

     (3)  Delete the requirement that the Council hold annual hearings until 1999 on the status of the master plan; and

     (4)  Require the Council to review and report on the continued relevance and need for changes in its powers, duties, and functions as codified in section 200D-3, Hawaii Revised Statutes.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism; Ko‘olau Foundation; Ko‘olaupoko Hawaiian Civic Club; Kako‘o ‘Oiwi; and one individual.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from two individuals.

     Your Committee finds that the Kaneohe Bay Regional Council, for one reason or another, has not functioned at optimal capacity in recent years.  In fact, your Committee heard testimony that it is difficult for the Council to have a quorum and so meetings are few.  This measure is intended to address that issue as well as other concerns.

     Your Committee has amended this measure on the recommendation of the Department of Land and Natural Resources by:

     (1)  Replacing the Council member from the Aquatic Resources Division with the Administrator of the Aquatic Resources Division, who shall also serve as Chairperson of the Council;

     (2)  Requiring quarterly meetings of the Council on the status and implementation of the master plan and deleting the reference to the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology; and

     (3)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Water and Land that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2330, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2330, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Water and Land,

____________________________

MALAMA SOLOMON, Chair