STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2544

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2451

       S.D. 2

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2016

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committees on Judiciary and Labor and Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 2451, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CHAPTER 183, HAWAII REVISED STATUTES,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

     (1)  Require the administrative fines for destroying or harvesting koa trees and other trees and plants under section 183-5(c), Hawaii Revised Statutes, to be an amount not to exceed the current market value of the koa tree or other tree or plant destroyed or harvested;

     (2)  Clarify that any person who violates a provision of part II of chapter 183, Hawaii Revised Statutes, forest reserves, or any rule adopted pursuant thereto, other than section 183‑17, Hawaii Revised Statutes, shall be guilty of a petty misdemeanor; and

     (3)  Repeal the general penalty provision in section 183-4, Hawaii Revised Statutes.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of the Attorney General.

     Your Committees find that forest resource thefts are occurring on state lands.  The State's forest resources are precious and limited resources worthy of the State's protection.  Implementation of this measure will deter unauthorized use of public resources and provide better protection of the State's forest resources.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

     (1)  Inserting language to clarify that the current market value of the koa tree or other tree or plant destroyed or harvested is the current market value at that location; and

     (2)  Requiring the maximum administrative fine for destroying or harvesting koa trees and other trees and plants to include the cost of restoration and replacement of the habitat, in addition to a fine to the offender for an amount not to exceed the current market value of the koa tree or other tree or plant destroyed or harvested at that location.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Judiciary and Labor and Ways and Means that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2451, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2451, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Judiciary and Labor and Ways and Means,

________________________________ JILL N. TOKUDA, Chair

________________________________ GILBERT S.C. KEITH-AGARAN, Chair