STAND. COM. REP. NO. 381

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 770

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2023

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Water and Land, to which was referred S.B. No. 770 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 appropriate funds for a grant-in-aid 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 the Kahaluu Beach Park in the County of Hawaii, conditioned upon the County of Hawaii's contribution of matching funds.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the State of Hawai‘i Aha Moku, Department of Research and Development of the County of Hawai‘i, one member of the Hawai‘i County Council, Department of Parks and Recreation of the County of Hawai‘i, Kahalu‘u Bay Education Center, Kauhakō Ohana Association, Clean the Pacific, ReefTeach Program, Friends of Hanauma Bay, Hawai‘i Reef and Ocean Coalition, Dear Ocean, and forty-four individuals.

Your Committee finds that, during the 2021 Regular Session, the Senate adopted Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 52, S.D. l (2021), which requested the collaboration of the Department of Land and Natural Resources and the County of Hawaii to identify and develop plans to avoid further deterioration from the rising sea levels at Kahaluu Bay. The resulting interagency working group has since been planning for the restoration of Kahaluu Beach Park. Your Committee believes that the group's findings warrant funding and prioritization. Therefore, this measure appropriates funds for a grant-in-aid 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 the Kahaluu Beach Park in the County of Hawaii, conditioned upon the County of Hawaii's contribution of matching funds.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

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

(2) Making a technical, nonsubstantive amendment for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

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. 770, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 770, 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