STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2634

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2060

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirtieth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2020

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Agriculture and Environment and Water and Land, to which was referred S.B. No. 2060 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO COASTAL ZONE MANAGEMENT,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to amend coastal zone management laws to further protect against impacts of sea level rise and coastal erosion.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources, Hawaii Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Commission, Office of Planning, Sierra Club of Hawai‘i, Surfrider Oahu, Hawaii Youth Climate Coalition, and two individuals.

Your Committees find that the Hawaii Sea Level Rise Vulnerability and Adaptation Report, accepted in 2017 by the Hawaii Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Commission, finds that with just 1.1 feet of sea level rise, many more miles of beach could be lost to erosion if widespread shoreline armoring is allowed. Based on its findings, the report recommends enabling beaches to persist with sea level rise and suggests integrating sea level rise considerations into Hawaii's laws regarding coastal zone management. Your Committees further find that the convergence of dense development along shorelines, increasing landward migration of shoreline due to sea level rise and other human and natural impacts, and extensive beach loss fronting shoreline armoring necessitates revision of existing policies and regulations. Revision of these existing policies and regulations would protect beaches and other coastal environments from further degradation and reduce the exposure of shorefront communities to increasing erosion and flooding hazards caused by sea level rise. This measure aims to strengthen coastal zone management policy to protect state beaches and to reduce residential exposure to coastal hazards.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Clarifying that a variance may be granted to private facilities or improvements that may artificially fix the shoreline; provided that the authority may consider hardship to the applicant if the facilities or improvements are not allowed within the shoreline area; and provided further that a variance to artificially fix the shoreline shall not be granted in areas with sand beaches or where artificially fixing the shoreline may interfere with existing recreational and waterline activities;

(2) Requiring the Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Commission to submit a proposal for a State of Hawaii supplemental insurance program for properties within the State subject to climate change impacts to the Legislature prior to the Regular Session of 2021; and

(3) 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 Water and Land that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2060, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2060, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

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

________________________________ KAIALI'I KAHELE, Chair

________________________________ MIKE GABBARD, Chair