STAND. COM. REP. NO.  106

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2015

RE:   H.B. No. 1430

Honorable Joseph M. Souki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Veterans, Military, & International Affairs, & Culture and the Arts, to which was referred H.B. No. 1430 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO MAKUA VALLEY,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to establish the Makua Valley Reserve Commission within the Department of Land and Natural Resources to oversee control and management of the area designated as Makua Valley on the island of Oahu.

     The measure also:

     (1)  Establishes permissible uses of Makua Valley;

     (2)  Establishes duties and powers of the Makua Valley Reserve Commission and the Department of Land and Natural Resources with regard to Makua Valley;

     (3)  Places Makua Valley in trust as part of the public land trust; provided that management and control of Makua Valley shall be transferred to the sovereign native Hawaiian entity upon its recognition by the United States and the State; and

     (4)  Creates the Makua Valley rehabilitation trust fund.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and Earthjustice.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the United States Army Garrison-Hawaii, the Center for Hawaiian Sovereignty Studies, and one individual.  The Department of Land and Natural Resources offered comments on this measure.

     Your Committee finds that Makua Valley is a site of great historic, cultural, and environmental significance.  However, for many years, the valley has been used by the military for training and testing.  Your Committee believes that by establishing the Makua Valley Reserve Commission, this measure will help facilitate the rehabilitation, protection, and management of Makua Valley.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Veterans, Military, & International Affairs, & Culture and the Arts that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1430 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Water & Land.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Veterans, Military, & International Affairs, & Culture and the Arts,

____________________________

KEN ITO, Chair