STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2563

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2965

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2018

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Agriculture and Environment and Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 2965 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE HAWAII CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION AND ADAPTION INITIATIVE,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to require the Hawaii Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Commission to identify, utilize, and maintain nature-based solutions in its climate change mitigation and adaption efforts at the regional, state, and local levels.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources; The Nature Conservancy; Sierra Club of Hawai‘i; Blue Planet Foundation; O‘ahu County Committee on Legislative Priorities of the Democratic Party of Hawai‘i; Ho‘omana Pono, LLC; and four individuals. Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Office of Planning.

Your Committees find that climate change is a major threat to the economy, environment, and overall well-being of the State. Your Committees further find that this measure furthers the Legislature's commitments made in Act 32, Session Laws of Hawaii 2017, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, adopt climate change mitigation and adaptation approaches, and support the provisions of the Paris Agreement.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Requiring the Hawaii Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Commission to prioritize, in addition to identifying, utilizing, and maintaining, nature-based solutions in its climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts at the regional, state, and local levels;

(2) Defining "nature-based solutions" to mean actions to protect, sustainably manage, and restore natural or modified ecosystems that address societal challenges effectively and adaptively, while simultaneously providing human well-being and biodiversity benefits;

(3) Inserting language to require the Hawaii Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Commission to develop a science-based carbon budget for Hawaii based on greenhouse gas analysis in the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fifth Assessment Report; and

(4) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Agriculture and Environment and Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2965, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2965, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Agriculture and Environment and Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs,

________________________________ CLARENCE K. NISHIHARA, Chair

________________________________ MIKE GABBARD, Chair