STAND. COM. REP. NO.  614

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2017

RE:   H.B. No. 1469

      H.D. 1

Honorable Joseph M. Souki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2017

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committees on Tourism and Water & Land, to which was referred H.B. No. 1469 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC LANDS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to promote redevelopment of public lands that contain dilapidated or deteriorating improvements or infrastructure by establishing procedures for designating redevelopment districts and for planning, funding, and implementing non-residential development in these districts.  To this end, this measure removes prohibitions on extending lease terms for public land leases, both within and outside of designated redevelopment districts.

Two Hawaii County Councilmembers from District 2 and 3, Kanoelehua Industrial Area Association, Hawaii Electric Light Company, Hawaii Planing Mill, Ltd. dba HPM Building Supply, Ponoholo Ranch Limited, Hawaii Island Portuguese Chamber of Commerce, Chika Nakano Repair Shop, Hawaii Island Chamber of Commerce, Big Island Toyota, Island Planning, McCully Works, and numerous concerned individuals supported this measure.  The Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Sierra Club of Hawaii, Hawaii's Thousand Friends, We Are One, Inc., League of Women Voters of Hawaii, Ohana Farms, BIFA, Life of the Land, and numerous concerned individuals opposed this measure. The Department of Land and Natural Resources, Department of Budget and Finance, Hawaii Tourism Authority, Common Cause Hawaii, and a concerned individual offered comments.  

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

     (1)  Requiring the governor to appoint on a planning committee seven public members of which:

          (A)  Three members shall be appointed from a list of six names submitted by the President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Representatives in collaboration with legislators from the county in which the designated district is located; and

          (B)  Four members shall be residents of the county in which the district is located and the remaining three members shall be residents of the State;

     (2)  Exempting schools, government entities, and eleemosynary organizations from specific public land lease restrictions; and

     (3)  Changing its effective date to July 1, 2117, to promote further discussion.

Should the Committee on Finance deliberate this measure further, your Committees respectfully request that it consider appropriating $500,000 for each year of fiscal biennium 2017-2019 for the establishment and administration of a planning committee that will assist in the redevelopment of a designated district in this measure.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Tourism and Water & Land that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1469, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1469, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Finance.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Tourism and Water & Land,

____________________________ RYAN I. YAMANE, Chair

____________________________ RICHARD H.K. ONISHI, Chair