STAND. COM. REP. NO. 250

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 1478

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 Transportation and Culture and the Arts, to which was referred S.B. No. 1478 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO COMMERCIAL HARBORS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Clarify the requirement of vessels to evacuate a commercial harbor upon order by the harbor master during an emergency;

(2) Establish harsher penalties for noncompliance; and

(3) Authorize fines collected for violations of an order to evacuate as moneys to be paid into the Special Harbor Fund.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Transportation and Hawaiʻi Emergency Management Agency.

Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Hawaii Longline Association.

Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Hawaiʻi Harbors Users Group.

Your Committee finds that in times of emergency, it is essential that commercial harbor users evacuate the commercial harbor when ordered by the harbor master. Your Committee further finds that in emergency preparedness exercises, there are often scenarios in which vessels that do not evacuate cause damage to piers and port infrastructure or otherwise impede restoration of port operations. Accordingly, this measure will improve the safety of commercial harbors and mitigate damage to port infrastructure during an emergency event and support efficient restoration of port operations.

Your Committee notes the importance of making the safety of all maritime vessels, their crews, and passengers a top priority in emergency response protocols.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, 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 Transportation and Culture and the Arts that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1478, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1478, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committees on Judiciary and Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Transportation and Culture and the Arts,

________________________________

CHRIS LEE, Chair