STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2622

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2665

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Agriculture and Environment and Water and Land, to which was referred S.B. No. 2665 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE PROTECTION OF TARO,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Prohibit the Board of Land and Natural Resources, in declaring residential development areas and acquiring lands therein, from disturbing wetland taro lands and infrastructure on undeveloped lands;

(2) Establish a fourth public land class for taro lands;

(3) Permit structures for lo‘i taro fields in the agricultural district;

(4) Establish growth and perpetuation of traditional Hawaiian crops as a goal of the State Planning Act; and

(5) Authorize the Board of Land and Natural Resources, with the Taro Security and Purity Task Force, to create an inventory of taro lands.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Environmental Caucus of the Democratic Party of Hawai‘i, Hawai‘i Farm Bureau, Hydroponics Alternatives LLC, and two individuals. Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources.

Your Committees find that protection of wetland taro lands is essential to the State's heritage and food security goals. However, gaps in land use, historic preservation, and planning laws have allowed key structural elements for wetland taro production to be destroyed. This measure implements protections for wetland taro lands to promote Hawaii's cultural heritage and food security.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Restricting the new definition of "taro lands" to public lands of high productivity determination within the conservation district established pursuant to chapter 205, Hawaii Revised Statutes;

(2) Requiring that permitted walls, terraces, or supporting structures in agricultural districts be currently in use for wetland taro cultivation;

(3) Limiting the prohibition on development projects for the Board of Land and Natural Resources to lands used for wetland taro cultivation prior to statehood and currently in use for wetland taro cultivation;

(4) Replacing the Board of Land and Natural Resources with the Land Use Commission as the agency responsible for conducting an inventory of wetland taro lands; and

(5) Making a technical, nonsubstantive amendment 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. 2665, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2665, 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,

________________________________ LORRAINE R. INOUYE, Chair

________________________________ MIKE GABBARD, Chair