STAND. COM. REP. NO. 461-22

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2022

RE: H.B. No. 1929

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. 1929 entitled:

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

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to:

(1) Require the Office of Planning and Sustainable Development to perform a study to assess the rural district framework within the State Land Use Law and make recommendations for revisions to rural district policies and permissible uses within the rural district;

(2) Require the Office of Planning and Sustainable Development to submit interim and final reports of the study to the Legislature; and

(3) Appropriate funds for the study.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Agriculture, Office of Planning and Sustainable Development, Hawaii Farm Bureau, and one individual. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure form one individual. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Budget and Finance.

Your Committee finds that the State and counties have not made effective use of the state rural land use district. Your Committee further finds that there is potential for greater use of the rural district to differentiate rural communities and lifestyle farms from working or commercial agricultural lands and to enable better protection of productive agricultural lands and the open space character of Hawaii's rural areas.

Your Committee notes that the Office of Planning and Sustainable Development completed a state land use review of districts report in January 2022, which found that the potential for preserving much of Hawaii's open space, rural communities, and working lands may be realized by redefining the policy framework for the rural district and reclassifying lands from the agricultural to the rural district to accommodate lower-density rural settlement patterns and subsistence farming lifestyles. This measure will continue the examination of the rural district framework to allow for better use of the state rural land use district and provide better protection for productive agricultural lands.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Deleting the amounts of the appropriations; and

(2) Changing its effective date to July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion.

Your Committee respectfully requests your Committee on Finance, should it choose to hear this measure, to consider appropriating $250,000 for the Office of Planning and Sustainable Development to perform a study to refine rural district policies and complete the required reports to the Legislature.

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. 1929, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1929, 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