STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2832

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                   

 

RE:     S.B. No. 2417

        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 Water and Land and Government Operations, to which was referred S.B. No. 2417 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO SUSTAINABILITY,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

 

     (1)  Require the Department of Land and Natural Resources to recognize that game mammals and game birds are a sustainable food source and that the State's unique relationship with the ocean provides the opportunity to integrate the local fish and game industry into the State's food security profile by establishing and maintaining fish propagating facilities;

    

     (2)  Require each department, office, or agency of the State to update its rules and policies to integrate the local hunting and fishing industries into any food security or sustainability strategies that the department, office, or agency employs; and

 

     (3)  Require reports to the Legislature.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii County Game Management Advisory Committee, Coral Fish Hawaii, HFACT, Hui Aloha Aina o na Wahine o Waialeale-Women's Patriotic League, and fifteen individuals.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and Conservation Council for Hawaii.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources and one individual.

 

     Your Committees find that free-ranging introduced mammals such as pigs, goats, deer, and sheep provide recreational hunting opportunities and meat for some of Hawaii's residents.  If left to their own devices, these animals will also create significant environmental degradation to both farmland and the natural environment.  This measure will require the Department of Land and Natural Resources to recognize that game mammals and birds are a sustainable food source, which will help ensure that game can be hunted for food and used for proper land management.

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Incorporating the changes proposed by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs by clarifying that the Department of Land and Natural Resources shall recognize that game mammals and game birds can provide a sustainable food source when properly managed in appropriate areas that minimize their impacts to important watershed areas and functions as well as to native Hawaiian traditional and customary practices and the resources those practices rely upon, and that the State's unique relationship with the ocean requires a careful consideration and management of land and ocean activities that prioritize the public trust responsibilities of the State, including but not limited to the conservation of natural resources for future generations and the protection of native Hawaiian traditional and customary practices pursuant to article XI, section 1 and article XII, section 7, of the Hawaii State Constitution;

 

     (2)  Clarifying that the Department of Land and Natural Resources is not required to establish and maintain fish propagating facility or facilities under section 183D-2, Hawaii Revised Statutes;

 

     (3)  Changing the deadline for each department, office, or agency of the State to update its rules and policies to integrate the local hunting and fishing industries into any food security or sustainability strategies that the department, office, or agency employs to July 1, 2022;

 

     (4)  Removing the language that the rules and policies updated pursuant to section 2(a) of this Act shall incorporate the policy goal of preserving, protecting, and promoting the State's hunting and fishing industries and practices into viable and sustainable economic, nutritional, and cultural resources, replacing it with language that the rules and policies shall be updated pursuant to section 183D-2, Hawaii Revised Statutes, and making conforming amendments; and

 

     (5)  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 Government Operations that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2417, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2417, 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 Government Operations,

 

________________________________

LAURA H. THIELEN, Chair

 

________________________________

KAIALI'I KAHELE, Chair