STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1758

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2025

RE: S.B. No. 15

S.D. 1

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 S.B. No. 15, S.D. 1, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HISTORIC PRESERVATION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to:

(1) Amend the definition of "historic property" to require that the property is over fifty years old and meets the criteria for inclusion in the Hawaiʻi Register of Historic Places; and

(2) Exclude proposed projects on existing residential property and proposed projects that are in nominally sensitive areas from the State's Historic Preservation Program review, under certain circumstances.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources; Grassroot Institute of Hawaii; NAIOP Hawaii; and Maui Chamber of Commerce. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the O‘ahu Historic Preservation Commission of the City and County of Honolulu; Ko‘olau Foundation; Historic Hawai‘i Foundation; and one individual.

Your Committee finds that under existing law, the definition of "historic property" determines how the State Historic Preservation Division evaluates historic and cultural resources and the impacts projects submitted to the Division have on historic and cultural resources. However, your Committee further finds that the existing definition merely bases this determination on age, and fails to take into consideration if a historic or cultural resource is of enough integrity and significance to be identified as "historic". This measure narrows the definition of "historic property" and allows historic preservation reviews to be completed in a more streamlined manner.

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 S.B. No. 15, S.D. 1, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 15, S.D. 1, H.D. 2.

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

____________________________

DAVID A. TARNAS, Chair