STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1161

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2025

RE: H.B. No. 367

H.D. 2

Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2025

State of Hawaii

Madame:

Your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 367, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO BUILDING PERMITS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to allow for county permit exemptions for certain kinds of activities, including maintenance activities, installing group U structures, and interior remodeling work, when located outside a special management area.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaiʻi Farm Bureau; Grassroot Institute of Hawaii; and one individual. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of Planning and Permitting of the City and County of Honolulu and one individual.

Your Committee finds that farmers and ranchers require functional infrastructure, such as greenhouses, storage sheds, livestock shelters, irrigation systems, and fencing, to maintain and expand their operations. However, despite the existing building permit exemption for certain nonresidential agricultural and aquacultural structures, many agricultural producers still face delays, additional county requirements, and inconsistent interpretations of the law when seeking to construct or repair essential structures. This measure streamlines and clarifies the building permit exemptions for agricultural structures and maintenance activities.

Your Committee has amended this measure by making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 367, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 367, H.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs,

____________________________

DAVID A. TARNAS, Chair