STAND. COM. REP. NO. 444

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 1303

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirtieth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2019

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Education, to which was referred S.B. No. 1303 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC LANDS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Allow the Department of Education to lease public school lands for a term of not more than ninety-nine years per lease;

(2) Amend Act 210, Session Laws of Hawaii 2018, by adding an additional parcel to the list of transferred lands from the City and County of Honolulu to the Department of Education; and

(3) Amend Act 206, Session Laws of Hawaii 2017, to allow the City and County of Honolulu to transfer lands under existing Department of Education facilities directly to the Department of Education, rather than to the Department of Land and Natural Resources.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Education and Building Industry Association of Hawaii. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Honolulu Fire Department.

Your Committee finds that Act 155, Session Laws of Hawaii 2013, established a pilot program to generate revenue from uses of public school lands for public purposes, such as workforce housing, to build and retrofit twenty-first century schools and create more school-centered communities. The pilot program laid important groundwork for a statewide approach and plan to optimize public school lands and modernize public school facilities. However, in subsequent discussions with government agencies and private developers, the existing fifty-five-year lease term creates issues in financing redevelopment projects. Extending the lease terms for redevelopment would allow prospective developers flexibility in securing financing as well as insuring a better long-term return to the State for the use of its lands.

Your Committee further finds that Act 206, Session Laws of Hawaii 2017, attempted to consolidate ownership of the lands under existing public schools from the City and County of Honolulu to the Department of Land and Natural Resources. However, rather than have the lands transferred from the City and County of Honolulu to the Department of Land and Natural Resources and then to the Department of Education, the lands should be transferred directly from the City and County of Honolulu to the Department of Education to allow the Department of Education more flexibility to redevelop or reposition its assets.

Additionally, your Committee finds that the Honolulu Fire Department has been looking for a possible location for a public safety facility to serve the growing Kaka‘ako-Ala Moana area. The parcel on Young Street where the Student Transportation Service Office is located would be an ideal site for a new fire station that would optimize the delivery of emergency services to the growing nearby community.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Deleting part II which would have transferred the Student Transportation Service Office parcel on Young Street from the City and County of Honolulu to the Department of Education; 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 Education that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1303, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1303, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Water and Land.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Education,

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MICHELLE N. KIDANI, Chair