STAND. COM. REP. NO. 668

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 992

       S.D. 2

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2017

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 992, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO VESSELS AGROUND,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to clarify the actions that the Department of Land and Natural Resources may take when responding to grounded vessels.  

     Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources, Office of Hawaiian Affairs, and Ocean Tourism Coalition.

     Your Committee received written comments in opposition to this measure from an individual.

     Your Committee finds that the Department of Land and Natural Resources is currently authorized to assume control of and remove a vessel grounded on a coral reef or in imminent danger of breaking up.  This authority leaves out various other places that vessels become grounded, including state submerged lands, shorelines, sand beaches, sand bars, and mud flats.  Leaving vessels grounded in these places can pose environmental and public safety risks.  Your Committee believes that these risks can be decreased and mitigated by explicitly authorizing the Department to assume control of and remove vessels grounded in these locations.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1)  Specifying that the owner or operator of a vessel grounded on state submerged lands, shorelines, or coral reefs shall be responsible for removing the vessel;

(2)  Clarifying that the entirety of section 200-47.5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, shall apply whether a vessel is attended or deemed derelict under section 200-48, Hawaii Revised Statutes; and

(3)  Making technical nonsubstantive changes for purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

     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. 992, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 992, S.D. 2.

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

________________________________

JILL N. TOKUDA, Chair