STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2630

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2391

       S.D. 2

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2014

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 2391, S.D. 1, entitled:

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

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to require the Department of Land and Natural Resources to establish a two-year pilot project in which a working group is convened on the island of Oahu to identify and implement management strategies for the resolution of user conflicts on public recreational lands.

     Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources.

     Your Committee finds that, as Hawaii's resident and visitor populations have increased, there have been more conflicts over the shared use of public recreational lands.  Your Committee further finds that the shared jurisdiction over these public recreational lands often renders single agencies incapable of resolving the conflicts on their own.  Your Committee believes that by establishing a working group comprising appropriate state, county, and community representatives, this measure will facilitate the identification of management solutions for the shared use of public recreational lands.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Clarifying that only one working group shall be established pursuant to the measure;

     (2)  Clarifying that membership on the working group shall include one representative from each appropriate state and City and County of Honolulu agency that has partial jurisdiction over the subject site and users involved in the conflict; and

     (3)  Changing the effective date from July 1, 2014, to July 1, 2050, to facilitate further discussion on the measure.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2391, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2391, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

____________________________

DAVID Y. IGE, Chair