STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2512

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 3068

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 Water and Land, Agriculture and Environment, and Government Operations, to which was referred S.B. No. 3068 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CLIMATE CHANGE,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Implement the recommendations of the Hawaii Sea Level Rise Vulnerability and Adaptation Report issued by the Hawaii Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Commission; and

(2) Appropriate funds to various state agencies and counties to implement the recommendations of the Hawaii Sea Level Rise Vulnerability and Adaptation Report.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Land Use Commission, Board of Water Supply of the City and County of Honolulu, Oahu County Committee on Legislative Priorities of the Democratic Party of Hawai‘i, Hawaiian Civic Club of Honolulu, KAHEA: The Hawaiian-Environmental Alliance, Kokua Hawaii Foundation, Hawaii Island Economic Development Board, and ten individuals. Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources, Office of Planning, Office of Environmental Quality Control, and Office of Climate Change, Sustainability and Resiliency of the City and County of Honolulu.

Your Committees find that Act 32, Session Laws of Hawaii 2017 (Act 32), recognized that climate change is not only real, but it is also the overriding challenge of the twenty-first century and one of the priority issues of the Hawaii State Senate. Climate change poses immediate and long-term threats to the State's economy, sustainability, security, and way of life.

Your Committees further find that Act 32 established the Hawaii Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Commission and directed the Commission, as a first step, to focus on and develop sea level rise vulnerability and adaptation reports that are required to include:

(1) Identification of the major areas of sea level rise impacts affecting the State and counties through 2050;

(2) Identification of expected impacts of sea level rise based on the latest scientific research for each area through 2050;

(3) Identification of the economic ramifications of sea level rise;

(4) Identification of applicable federal laws, policies, or programs that impact affected areas; and

(5) Recommendations for planning, management, and adaptation for hazards associated with increasing sea level rise.

The Hawaii Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Commission submitted a Hawaii Sea Level Rise Vulnerability and Adaptation Report in December 2017. The report identifies, with maps at tax map key detail, areas that are susceptible to sea level rise impacts based on a 3.2-foot increase in sea level projected to occur by mid-century or earlier. These areas are designated as the sea level rise exposure area projection, which the Commission recommends be adopted as a sea level rise exposure area overlay to guide state and county adaptation strategies and standards for development. The report also made a number of recommendations to state and county agencies based on emerging good practices to strengthen Hawaii's overall readiness to face sea level rise and climate change. Accordingly, this measure implements the recommendations of the Hawaii Sea Level Rise Vulnerability and Adaptation Report.

Your Committees have amended this measure by inserting an effective date of July 1, 2025, to encourage further discussion.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Water and Land, Agriculture and Environment, and Government Operations that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 3068, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 3068, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Water and Land, Agriculture and Environment, and Government Operations,

________________________________ MIKE GABBARD, Chair	________________________________ KARL RHOADS, Chair
	________________________________ DONNA MERCADO KIM, Chair