STAND. COM. REP. NO. 134

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 1136

       S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2017

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Water and Land, to which was referred S.B. No. 1136 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE LAND USE COMMISSION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate funds for the Land Use Commission to establish a staff position to monitor and ensure compliance with conditions regarding land use within the four major land use districts.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Land Use Commission, Conservation Council of Hawai‘i, and one individual.

     The Land Use Commission (LUC) has approved eight hundred petitions for redistricting since 1963, often with conditions attached to protect the public welfare and Native Hawaiian rights and assets.  The LUC currently lacks adequate staff to monitor compliance with the conditions attached to their decisions, and those conditions are only enforceable by the LUC prior to substantial commencement of construction of a project.  Your Committee finds that a Planner IV position at the LUC is necessary to monitor compliance and timely respond to issues of noncompliance with land use decisions.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Water and Land that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1136, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1136, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Water and Land,

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KARL RHOADS, Chair