STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2037

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2667

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2018

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Agriculture and Environment, to which was referred S.B. No. 2667 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to codify the State's commitment to conservation and sustainability by including goal six, clean water and sanitation, of the seventeen United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and indicators, with references to existing state sustainability programs, if applicable, in the Hawaii Revised Statutes.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of Planning, Department of Land and Natural Resources, Department of Agriculture, Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Airport Concessionaires Committee, Sierra Club of Hawai‘i, Hawaiian Civic Club of Honolulu, The Nature Conservancy, O‘ahu County Legislative Priorities Committee of the Democratic Party of Hawai‘i, Hawaii Farmers Union United, and one individual. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from one individual. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Office of Environmental Quality Control and Hawai‘i Farm Bureau.

Your Committee finds that Hawai‘i has been a leader in conservation efforts for decades, through its commitment to environmental and sustainability policies, and that the priority of the Senate for the Regular Session of 2018 is to adopt the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals at the state level. The seventeen Sustainable Development Goals are a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity. This measure codifies Sustainable Development Goal six, clean water and sanitation, into state law.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Agriculture and Environment that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2667 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Agriculture and Environment,

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MIKE GABBARD, Chair