STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2141

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2672

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2018

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Water and Land, to which was referred S.B. No. 2672 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 eleven, sustainable cities and communities, 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 Department of Land and Natural Resources, Department of Human Services, Department of Agriculture, Office of Planning, Environmental Caucus of the Democratic Party of Hawai‘i, Hawaiian Civic Club of Honolulu, Airport Concessionaires Committee, Oahu County Committee on Legislative Priorities of the Democratic Party of Hawai‘i, The Nature Conservancy, Hawaii Institute for Human Rights, 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 of the Department of Health.

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 a priority of the Senate for the Regular Session of 2018 is to adopt the United Nations' 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 eleven, sustainable cities and communities, into state law.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Adopting the language suggested by the Office of Planning that changes the placement of Sustainable Development Goal eleven from chapter 344, Hawaii Revised Statutes, relating to state environmental policy, to chapter 226, Hawaii Revised Statutes, relating to the Hawaii State Planning Act; and

(2) 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. 2672, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2672, 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