STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1274

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 765

H.D. 1

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirtieth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2019

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Water and Land and Agriculture and Environment, to which was referred H.B. No. 765, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO COASTAL PLANNING,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to require the incorporation of sea level rise projections in all new state plans and updates to existing state plans generated under the Hawaii State Planning Act pursuant to chapter 226, Hawaii Revised Statutes.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources, Office of Planning, Sierra Club of Hawai‘i, League of Women Voters of Hawaii, Young Democrats of Hawaii, and twenty-two individuals.

Your Committees find that in December 2017, the Hawaii Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Commission accepted the Hawaii Sea Level Rise Vulnerability and Adaptation Report (SLR Report). The first recommendation of the SLR Report is to recognize the SLR-XA (Sea Level Rise Vulnerability Area) as a statewide vulnerability zone. The SLR-XA demonstrates the extent of the potential exposure of land and structures to flooding and erosion with an increase of 0.5, 1.1, 2.0, and 3.2 feet of sea level rise throughout the State. Your Committees find that planning for sea level rise is necessary to protect coastal structures, infrastructure, and environments and therefore must be considered for purposes of state planning.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Making it effective on July 1, 2019; and

(2) 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 Water and Land and Agriculture and Environment that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 765, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 765, H.D. 1, 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 and Agriculture and Environment,

________________________________ MIKE GABBARD, Chair

________________________________ KAIALI'I KAHELE, Chair