STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3625

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                

 

RE:    H.B. No. 2026

       H.D. 2

       S.D. 2

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2018

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred H.B. No. 2026, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE ENVIRONMENT,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

The purpose and intent of this measure is to require the Legislative Reference Bureau to update the 1985 study "The Feasibility of Environmental Reorganization for Hawaii" and to assess the feasibility of implementing the findings and recommendations of the Department of Environmental Protection Task Force that was convened in response to Act 293, Session Laws of Hawaii 1991.

 

     Your Committees received written comments in support of this measure from the Oahu County Committee on Legislative Priorities of the Democratic Party of Hawaii and one individual.

 

Your Committee received written comments on this measure from the Legislative Reference Bureau.

 

     Your Committee finds that environmental challenges faced by Hawaii and the world have grown significantly since the 1985 study was published and that an updated study would provide a better understanding of whether a Department of Environmental Protection should be established and what its jurisdiction should encompass.

 

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

(1)  Changing the amount appropriated to an unspecified sum; and

 

(2)  Changing the effective date to July 1, 2050, to facilitate further discussion on the measure.

 

     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 H.B. No. 2026, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2026, H.D. 2, S.D. 2.

 

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

 

 

 

________________________________

DONOVAN M. DELA CRUZ, Chair