STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2393

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2966

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 Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred S.B. No. 2966 entitled:

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

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to authorize the Board of Land and Natural Resources to provide for non-binding mediation of disputes regarding the fair market value of public lands in transactions involving the purchase, lease, or repurchase of the public lands and the fair market rental of public lands under lease when rentals are reopened, and also preserves the option of binding arbitration to resolve disputes when the mediation process fails to do so.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Hilo Bay Printing Co., Ltd.; Citizens for Fair Valuation; and one individual.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources.

     Your Committees find that mediation is an effective method of resolving disputes that should be made available to resolve disputes regarding the fair market value or fair market rental of public lands in transactions involving the Board of Land and Natural Resources and private purchasers, owners, or leaseholders.  The present statutory framework for the arbitration of such disputes is cumbersome and does not provide the parties an opportunity to work collaboratively toward mutual solutions to disputes.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Water and Land and Judiciary and Labor that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2966 and recommend that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Water and Land and Judiciary and Labor,

____________________________ CLAYTON HEE, Chair

____________________________ MALAMA SOLOMON, Chair