STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2049

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 3380

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Water and Land, to which was referred S.B. No. 3380 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO BEACH PARK RESTORATION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to provide matching grant-in-aid funds to the County of Hawaii to hire an engineering firm to study, plan, assist, and conduct preliminary design and concept work for a two-phase project to restore Kahaluu Beach Park.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the County of Hawaii Department of Parks and Recreation, Hawaii Reef and Ocean Coalition, The Kohala Center, Friends of Hanauma Bay, Kahalu‘u Bay Education Center, Mālama Pūpūkea-Waimea, Kona-Kohala Chamber of Commerce, and forty-five individuals. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Budget and Finance.

Your Committee finds that Kahaluu Beach Park, the top visited beach park in the County of Hawaii, has split jurisdiction between the State, which extends from the Bay's shoreline to the high water mark, and the County of Hawaii, which owns and operates the Kahaluu Beach Park facility. Kahaluu Bay has historically been regarded as a sacred place to Native Hawaiians, adorned with heiau, fishponds, and barrier rock walls. Despite its historical significance and recent conservation efforts by the University of Hawaii, in partnership with the Kohala Center's Kahalu‘u Bay Education Center, the ecosystem is not entirely shielded by the impacts of global warming.

During the 2021 Regular Session, the Senate adopted Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 52, S.D. 1, which requested the Department of Land and Natural Resources and the County of Hawaii to collaborate to identify sea level rise at Kahaluu Bay to avoid further deterioration and damage caused by rising sea levels. The Kahaluu Bay Restoration Working Group, comprised of state and county officials and community leaders, formed to address and plan for the restoration of Kahaluu Beach Park. However, greater resources are needed to effectuate the restoration plan. Kahaluu Bay is a public resource with intergovernmental jurisdiction and Bay can serve as a model for restoration of public resources and an example of state and county partnership.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Inserting blank appropriation amounts to allow the Committee on Ways and Means to determine appropriate amounts; and

(2) Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Water and Land that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 3380, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 3380, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

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

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LORRAINE R. INOUYE, Chair