STAND. COM. REP. NO. 574-18

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2018

RE: H.B. No. 2679

H.D. 1

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2018

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Education and Water & Land, to which was referred H.B. No. 2679 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING THE TRANSFER OF LANDS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to assist the Department of Education in its development of Twenty-First Century public schools by transferring fee interest in certain public school lands from the City and County of Honolulu and the Department of Land and Natural Resources to the Department of Education.

The Department of Education and Hawaii State Teachers Association supported this measure. The Department of Parks and Recreation of the City and County of Honolulu and Ho‘omana Pono, LLC opposed this measure. The Department of Land and Natural Resources, Department of the Attorney General, and Office of Hawaiian Affairs provided comments.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Requiring that the Department of Education incur all fees and costs associated with any redevelopment of land, including costs for subdividing the land or creating a condominium property regime;

(2) Clarifying that the Department of Education shall sell, exchange, transfer, assign, or pledge any property, real or personal, only to a government entity;

(3) Changing the effective date to July 1, 2050; and

(4) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for clarity, consistency, and style.

Your Committees note that there were concerns regarding determining tenancy and proper disclosure of necessary documents related to the transfer of applicable lands. Your Committees further note that the process of divesting property may also extinguish liability of the State or county and that the State should absorb these costs as they are related to the reinvestment opportunities.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Education and Water & Land that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2679, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2679, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Finance.

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

____________________________ RYAN I. YAMANE, Chair

____________________________ JUSTIN H. WOODSON, Chair