STAND. COM. REP. NO. 599

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 1054

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 Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs, Agriculture and Environment, and Water and Land, to which was referred S.B. No. 1054 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PLANNING,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to require:

(1) The State and counties to incorporate predictions of sea level rise and other climate change hazards and mitigation opportunities into applicable plans, strategies, and mapping, in order to increase the State's resiliency and ability to properly respond to natural disasters; and

(2) The Public Utilities Commission to consider in its actions the findings in the Hawaii Sea Level Rise Vulnerability and Adaptation Report (Report) by the Hawaii Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Commission and seek to avoid critical electrical infrastructure projects in areas of higher risk, in order to reduce risks to taxpayers and the general public.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from one member of the Hawai‘i County Council, one member of the Maui County Council, Sierra Club of Hawai‘i, O‘ahu County Committee on Legislative Priorities of the Democratic Party of Hawai‘i, and six individuals. Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency, Department of Land and Natural Resources, Public Utilities Commission, and Office of Planning.

Your Committees find that disaster recovery efforts need to be carried out quickly and efficiently to ensure that damaged infrastructure and interrupted services are restored as soon as possible. Pre-disaster planning and post-disaster responses that seek to make the State less vulnerable regarding future disasters, can expedite responses that anticipate future needs.

Your Committees further find that disasters that could interrupt vital services and damage critical infrastructure should be considered and incorporated into plans prior to an actual disaster. Your Committees believe that incorporating sea level rise and disaster predictions into emergency planning will benefit the State.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Requiring all floodplain mapping supported by state or county funding to include information from the Report that anticipates sea level rise and floodplains in terms of special flood hazard areas, as defined by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, rather than the United States Geological Survey's one-hundred-year floodplain designations; and

(2) Clarifying that the Public Utilities Commission shall consider the findings of the Report but not necessarily in all of its actions.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs, Agriculture and Environment, and Water and Land that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1054, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1054, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

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

________________________________ MIKE GABBARD, Chair	________________________________ CLARENCE K. NISHIHARA, Chair
	________________________________ KAIALI'I KAHELE, Chair