STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2469

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2878

       S.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2014

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committees on Water and Land and Energy and Environment, to which was referred S.B. No. 2878 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS HUMPBACK WHALE NATIONAL MARINE SANCTUARY,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to recognize in statute the State's role in co-managing the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources, Aha Moku Advisory Committee, and ten individuals.

     Your Committees find that the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary (Sanctuary) has been co-managed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Department of Land and Natural Resources through a compact agreement since 1998.  The Sanctuary has achieved many successes over the last fifteen years, including disentangling nearly twenty humpback whales, conducting cutting-edge research, and developing nationally recognized education and outreach programs.  However, recognition of the State's co-management of the Sanctuary has never been formally established under state law.  State recognition of co-management is critical to maintain state sovereignty and to underscore the State's commitment to co-management over the long term.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Water and Land and Energy and Environment that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2878, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2878, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Water and Land and Energy and Environment,

____________________________ MIKE GABBARD, Chair

____________________________ MALAMA SOLOMON, Chair