STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2277

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2728

       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 Transportation and International Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 2728 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HIGHWAYS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to clarify that the Legislature has the authority to determine a public trail.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Transportation, Department of Land and Natural Resources, Land Use Commission, Hawaii Trail and Mountain Club, and Monsanto.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Kaua‘i County Council, Office of the County Clerk, Public Access Trails Hawaii, Kahea, Ho‘okipa Network-Kaua‘i, and sixty-three individuals.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from two individuals.

     Your Committee finds that The Highways Act of 1892 determined by statute which public rights-of-ways and trails are public highways.  Furthermore, chapter 198D, Hawaii Revised Statutes, relating to the Hawaii Statewide Trail and Access System, establishes the statutory framework within which appropriate access to trails is to be determined.  It is the intent of your Committee to clarify the historical background and existing law on the process for determining appropriate trail use and management.  It is not the intent of your Committee to interfere with or to change the existing statutory procedures under chapter 198D, Hawaii Revised Statutes, or to in any way diminish the authority of the Department of Land and Natural Resources in this regard.  However, your Committee believes that this measure sheds light on disputes arising from public access to trails.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by clarifying that the designation of a public trail shall be as provided by law.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Transportation and International Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2728, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2728, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Transportation and International Affairs,

____________________________

J. KALANI ENGLISH, Chair