STAND. COM. REP. NO. 687

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 510

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2021

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred S.B. No. 510, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HISTORIC PRESERVATION REVIEWS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Allow the State Historic Preservation Division of the Department of Land and Natural Resources (Department), in consultation with the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, to delegate the responsibility for historic preservation project reviews to the impacted counties; and

(2) Allow the Department to establish a program to certify third-party individuals and organizations to review documents for completeness and compliance prior to submission of those documents to the Department.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources and Office of Hawaiian Affairs. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Hawaii Government Employees Association, AFSCME Local 152, AFL-CIO. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Maui Chamber of Commerce.

Your Committee finds that every year the State Historic Preservation Division (SHPD) receives thousands of permits, supporting reports, and documents for review. In every other state in the union, many of these reviews would be subject to review at the county or municipal level; only Hawai‘i requires reviews and evaluations at the state level. Authorizing the counties to assume responsibility for these reviews would bring Hawai‘i in line with the other forty-nine states. Your Committee additionally finds that far too many submittals received by SHPD are incomplete or do not meet the minimum requirements set by rule. These defective submittals must be rejected and returned to the submitting party for corrections and resubmitted for a re-review by SHPD. Often this process happens multiple times for the same submittal. Such re-reviews comprise a significant portion of the work SHPD does and contributes to the backlog in permit reviews. This measure will make SHPD more efficient by allocating portions of the review process to the counties and ensuring that submittals are technically correct before they are sent to SHPD.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 510, S.D. 1, and recommends that it pass Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary,

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KARL RHOADS, Chair