STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1213

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 506

H.D. 1

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2025

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Water and Land, to which was referred H.B. No. 506, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CONSERVATION ENFORCEMENT,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate funds for equipment for the Oahu Branch of the Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement of the Department of Land and Natural Resources.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources; The Nature Conservancy, Hawaiʻi and Palmyra; Kuaʻāina Ulu ʻAuamo; Mālama Pūpūkea-Waimea; Na Kama Kai; Hawaiʻi Ocean Legislative Task Force; Hawaii Reef and Ocean Coalition; and eighteen individuals.

Your Committee finds that robust populations of coral reef herbivores are essential to restoring and preserving the State's precious coral reefs. Your Committee further finds that the populations of herbivorous fishes around Oahu are the lowest in the State. Your Committee also finds that although the Department of Land and Natural Resources adopted rules in December 2023 to protect herbivorous fish populations in the State, it has been difficult to enforce these rules around Oahu because the Oahu Branch of the Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement (DOCARE) is not adequately staffed or equipped. Accordingly, this measure will ensure that the Oahu Branch of the Division of Conservative and Resource Enforcement is well-equipped to protect herbivorous fish populations around the island of Oahu.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2040, to encourage further discussion; and

(2) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments 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 H.B. No. 506, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 506, H.D. 1, 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,

________________________________

LORRAINE R. INOUYE, Chair