STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2142

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 2759

       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 Water and Land, Agriculture and Environment, and Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 2759 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE DISPOSITION OF WATER RIGHTS,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to exempt the instream use of water for traditional and customary kalo cultivation practices from the existing process for disposition of water rights.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Hawaiian Homelands, one member of the Hawaii County Council, County of Kauai Department of Planning, County of Kauai Office of the Mayor, Waimea Hawaiian Civic Club, Kuaāina Ulu Auamo, Waioli Valley Taro Hui, Hawaii Alliance for Progressive Action, Hui o Nā Wai Ehā, Hawaii SEED, Haiku Community Association, Waipā Foundation, Kupuna for the Moopuna, Earthjustice, Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement, Hawaii Land Trust, Hanalei Hawaiian Civic Club, and twenty-six individuals.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources.

 

     Your Committees find that for nearly two thousand years, Native Hawaiians have been farming successfully on lands throughout the State without adversely impacting the land.  As a significant cultural and traditional practice, Native Hawaiian farming practices serve as a key tradition that also benefits the quality of life for Hawaii's residents.  While the State has a fiduciary duty to assure the preservation and enhancement of water for various public interests, some regulatory actions disrupt protected cultural rights and traditions of Native Hawaiians.

 

     However, your Committees have heard the concerns of many testifiers, including Hui o Nā Wai Ehā, that this measure as drafted should confirm and uphold existing water rights.  According to Hui o Nā Wai Ehā, protections of traditional, customary, and kuleana rights, including rights to access traditional water course or auwai, support kalo farmers across the State.  Some kalo farmers have waited over twenty years to have priority rights recognized.  However, the gap in recognition has led to delays or deprivation of water rights access.  To preserve traditional Native Hawaiian cultural rights while also providing clean, safe, and protected water to the people of Hawaii, amendments to this measure are therefore necessary to provide further justice for kalo farmers to exercise traditional, customary, and kuleana water rights.

 

     Accordingly, your Committees have amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Clarifying that appurtenant and traditional, customary, and kuleana water rights include the rights of use, access, delivery, and quality of water that shall be recognized and protected;

 

     (2)  Amending section 1 to reflect its amended purpose;

 

     (3)  Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion; and

 

     (4)  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, Agriculture and Environment, and Hawaiian Affairs that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2759, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2759, 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, Agriculture and Environment, and Hawaiian Affairs,

 

________________________________

MIKE GABBARD, Chair

 

________________________________

LORRAINE R. INOUYE, Chair

 

 

________________________________

MAILE S.L. SHIMABUKURO, Chair