STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2570

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2437

       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. 2437, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO TRANSIT,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to require state agencies to coordinate with the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation to address workforce housing and transit ridership.

     Specifically, the measure requires:

     (1)  All state agencies owning property or facilities within one-half mile of each proposed rail transit station to enter into memoranda of understanding with each other and convene working groups that include the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation; and

     (2)  Each working group to submit an annual report to the legislature examining how each rail transit station will help meet the demand for workforce housing, affect transit ridership, and create economic diversification and growth opportunities.

     Your Committee received no written comments on the measure.

     Your Committee finds that there is a need to examine how state agencies situated around each proposed rail transit station will be affected by the rail transit project and how the agencies can contribute to meeting the State's goals of increasing workforce housing, public transit ridership, and economic diversification and growth.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Clarifying that participation in the working groups shall be required of all state agencies owning land in proximity to proposed rail stations;

     (2)  Clarifying that the working groups shall be disbanded upon the completion of the rail transit project;

     (3)  Changing the effective date to July 1, 2050, to facilitate further discussion on the measure; and

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

     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. 2437, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2437, S.D. 2.

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

____________________________

DAVID Y. IGE, Chair