STAND. COM. REP. NO. 501-22

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2022

RE: H.B. No. 1659

H.D. 1

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Water & Land, to which was referred H.B. No. 1659 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO LAND LEASES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to authorize the Board of Land and Natural Resources to:

(1) Amend and extend existing pasture leases for up to sixty-five years;

(2) Issue new pasture leases by negotiation, if doing so furthers public purposes and the lands are already under pastoral use; and

(3) Develop agricultural and pasture lease rents based on the value of the land's agricultural uses.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from Kapapala Ranch. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Ulupono Initiative; Hawaii Cattlemen's Council, Inc.; and Hawai‘i Farm Bureau.

Your Committee finds that Act 90, Session Laws of Hawaii 2003 (Act 90), provided for the transfer of certain non-agricultural park lands from the Department of Land and Natural Resources to the Department of Agriculture. Since the enactment of Act 90, the Department of Land and Natural Resources has transferred over nineteen thousand acres to the Department of Agriculture. However, certain pasture lands serve multiple purposes and are a critical part of the Department of Land and Natural Resources' forest protection and restoration responsibilities, in addition to other recreational responsibilities, and remain under the jurisdiction of the Department of Land and Natural Resources. This measure is intended to provide the Board of Land and Natural Resources with additional authority to work with ranchers on mutually beneficial terms to promote public priorities on multiple-use lands.

Your Committee has amended this measure by changing the effective date to July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion.

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. 1659, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1659, 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