STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2803

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 3072

       S.D. 2

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2016

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 3072, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO AN AIRPORT AUTHORITY,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to establish the Hawaii Airport Authority to oversee the State's air transportation resources.

     Specifically, this measure:

(1)  Establishes, on July 1, 2018, the Hawaii Airport Authority as a public instrumentality and an independent subdivision of the State;

(2)  Establishes the powers, organizational structure, and duties of the Hawaii Airport Authority;

(3)  Transfers supervision of state aeronautics administration from the Department of Transportation to the Hawaii Airport Authority on July 1, 2018;

(4)  Requires the Department of Transportation to complete an implementation plan on properly empowering the Hawaii Airport Authority to perform the functions necessary to oversee the State's airports and aeronautical facilities and to recommend other actions needed to effectuate the transfer of responsibilities made by the measure; and

(5)  Appropriates funds to the Department of Transportation to carry out the purposes of the measure.

     Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the Department of Transportation, Hawaiian Airlines, Airlines Committee of Hawaii, Napili Kai Beach Resort, Maui Hotel and Lodging Association, Hawaii Lodging and Tourism Association, and American Society of Civil Engineers.

     Your Committee received written comments in opposition to this measure from the Department of Budget and Finance.

     Your Committee received written comments on this measure from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.

     Your Committee finds that the Department of Transportation is currently performing a study on the feasibility of establishing an airport authority.  Your Committee believes that, given the breadth and scope of such a transfer as called for in this measure, the Governor, based upon the findings and recommendations of the department's study, should determine, by executive order, the date upon which the authority should be established.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1)  Requiring that the Hawaii Airport Authority be established pursuant to an executive order by the Governor specifying a date for establishment and after notification of that date to the Legislature;

(2)  Deleting language designating the Hawaii Airport Authority as an independent subdivision of the State;

(3)  Requiring the Department of Transportation to conduct a feasibility study on implementing the Hawaii Airport Authority;

(4)  Requiring staff of the Hawaii Airport Authority to be subject to public employment laws;

(5)  Deleting provisions authorizing the Hawaii Airport Authority to create new employee classifications;

(6)  Deleting the express authority of the Hawaii Airport Authority to acquire and use lands to stockpile dredged spoils without county approval and notwithstanding any other law;

(7)  Making the authority of the Hawaii Airport Authority to hire or contract law enforcement personnel subject to other laws;

(8)  Deleting the provision requiring the measure to be liberally construed;

(9)  Deleting the section appropriating funds to the Department of Transportation;

(10) Changing the effective date to July 1, 2076, to facilitate further discussion on the measure; and

(11) Making technical nonsubstantive amendments for purposes of style, clarity, and consistency.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 3072, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 3072, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

________________________________

JILL N. TOKUDA, Chair