STAND. COM. REP. NO. 423

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 537

       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 Hawaiian Affairs, Health, and Water and Land, to which was referred S.B. No. 537 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HAWAIIAN FISHPONDS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to provide that a project possessing a notice to proceed on a statewide programmatic general permit to reconstruct, restore, repair, or reuse a Hawaiian fishpond shall be exempt from the requirement to obtain a permit or water quality certification pursuant to chapter 342D, Hawaii Revised Statutes.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources, Land Use Research Foundation of Hawaii, Ko‘olaupoko Civic Club, and seven individuals.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from Loko Ia Consulting and Center for Hawaiian Sovereignty Studies.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Health, Office of Hawaiian Affairs, and Kua‘aina Ulu ‘Auamo.

     Your Committees find that by requiring the Department of Health to waive the requirement of a water quality certification under certain circumstances, this measure would promote the streamlining of the permitting process for persons seeking to restore, repair, or reuse Hawaiian fishponds.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

     (1)  Amending the purpose section;

     (2)  Inserting a definition for "loko i‘a" in section 342D‑6.5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, and replacing the term "fishpond" with "loko i‘a" throughout that section;

     (3)  Specifying that the waiver applies to the water quality certification and shall be granted for the restoration, repair, maintenance, and operation of loko i‘a;

     (4)  Clarifying that notice of authorization to proceed is from the Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands; and

     (5)  Amending the definition of "water quality certification".

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Hawaiian Affairs, Health, and Water and Land that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 537, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 537, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Labor.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Hawaiian Affairs, Health, and Water and Land,

____________________________ JOSH GREEN, Chair	____________________________ MAILE S.L. SHIMABUKURO, Chair
	____________________________ LAURA H. THIELEN, Chair