STAND. COM. REP. NO. 598

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2021

RE: H.B. No. 1261

H.D. 1

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2021

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Water & Land, to which was referred H.B. No. 1261 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE DEPARTMENT OF LAND AND NATURAL RESOURCES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to require the Department of Land and Natural Resources to lease the property located at 29-169 Kulaiwi Road, also known as the old Hakalau School site, in South Hilo on Hawaii island to the Wailea Village Historic Preservation Community for a period of twenty years, with a lease rent of $100 per year.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Historic Hawai‘i Foundation, Wailea Village Historic Preservation Community, Waiehu Land LLC, and four individuals. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of the Attorney General and the Department of Land and Natural Resources.

Your Committee finds that the old Hakalau School site is the subject of a 2014 Executive Order, in which the Department of Education informed the Department of Land and Natural Resources of its intent to turn the property over to the Department of Land and Natural Resources. While the Department of Land and Natural Resources has been requested by Wailea Village Historic Preservation to lease the site, the site has lead paint contamination and mitigation issues that need to be remediated. Once those issues get resolved, the Department of Land and Natural Resources has indicated that they will request from the Board of Land and Natural Resources approval to issue a direct lease. Your Committee encourages all stakeholders to continue their conversations on how to remediate the property so that it can be preserved for the benefit of the community.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Changing the annual lease rent to an unspecified amount;

(2) Changing the effective date to January 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion; and

(3) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Water & Land that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1261, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1261, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Finance.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Water & Land,

____________________________

DAVID A. TARNAS, Chair