STAND. COM. REP. NO. 604

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 1459

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2025

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Water and Land and Health and Human Services, to which was referred S.B. No. 1459 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HOMELESS ENCAMPMENTS ON DEPARTMENT OF LAND AND NATURAL RESOURCES LANDS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate funds to the Department of Land and Natural Resources to facilitate the clean-up work associated with homeless encampments, including the removal and storage of a homeless individual's property on state lands managed by the Department.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources and Department of Human Services.

Your Committees find that homeless encampments on state-owned lands pose a significant challenge for the Department of Land and Natural Resources. This measure will facilitate the Department of Land and Natural Resources' clean-up activities and enable it to more effectively address the impacts of homeless encampments on its lands.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Changing the appropriation to an unspecified amount;

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

(3) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Water and Land and Health and Human Services that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1459, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1459, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Water and Land and Health and Human Services,

________________________________ JOY A. SAN BUENAVENTURA, Chair

________________________________ LORRAINE R. INOUYE, Chair