STAND. COM. REP. NO. 990

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 15

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 Judiciary, to which was referred S.B. No. 15 entitled:

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

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to amend the definition of "historic property" to require that the property meets the criteria for inclusion in the Hawaii Register of Historic Places or has important value to Native Hawaiians or other ethnic groups of the State due to associations with cultural practices once carried out, or still carried out, at the property or associations with traditional beliefs, events, or oral accounts that are important to history, traditional practices, and cultural identity.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources, Historic Hawaiʻi Foundation, and Koʻolau Foundation.

Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from NAIOP Hawaii.

Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii.

Your Committee finds that historic properties located throughout the State comprise one component of the State's unique cultural history. However, the existing definition of "historic property" is broad, inadvertently classifying properties as a "historic property" without prerequisite evaluation and consideration to determine the integrity and significance of the property. This measure will streamline the classification of historic properties statewide to protect a vital source of the State's architectural history.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Clarifying the definition of "historic property" to require that the property be over fifty years old and meet certain criteria for inclusion in the Hawaii Register of Historic Places or have important value to Native Hawaiians or other ethnic groups of the State; 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 Judiciary that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 15, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 15, S.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary,

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KARL RHOADS, Chair