STAND. COM. REP. NO. 187

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 204

       S.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committees on Water and Land and Higher Education and the Arts, to which was referred S.B. No. 204 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO BEACH MANAGEMENT FOR THE NORTH SHORE OF OAHU,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate funds to the University of Hawaii sea grant college program to create a North Shore beach management plan for the north shore of Oahu stretching from the Kawailoa to Waiale‘e ahupua‘a.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources, University of Hawai‘i Sea Grant College Program, Hawaii Shore and Beach Preservation Association, and one individual.

     Your Committees find that it is necessary for the State to improve the understanding and management of beach resources along the fifteen-mile stretch of coastline from Haleiwa through Sunset Beach, which is of primary importance to state residents and visitors from around the world for its beautiful beaches, world class surf breaks, and marine resources.

     A recent study by researchers from the University of Hawaii and the United States Geological Survey finds the 73 percent of beaches along the north shore of Oahu are undergoing a long-term trend of beach erosion and shoreline retreat.  The threat of seasonal erosion and inundation during large waves may be an even greater hazard along many north shore beaches.  Management and conservation of north shore beaches is further challenged by a legacy of concentrated development too close to hazard-prone shorelines, as well as impacts from intensive public use.  Frequency and severity of coastal erosion and coastal flooding events will only increase with increasing rates of sea level rise in the coming decades.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussions.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Water and Land and Higher Education and the Arts that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 204, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 204, S.D. 1, 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 Higher Education and the Arts,

____________________________ BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair

____________________________ LAURA H. THIELEN, Chair