STAND. COM. REP. NO. 586

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 561

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 S.B. No. 561 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 to purchase equipment for the Division of Conservation and Resource 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, Conservation Council for Hawaiʻi, Puʻu O Hoku Ranch, Mālama Pūpūkea-Waimea, Hawaiʻi Reef and Ocean Coalition, and thirteen individuals.

Your Committee finds that the Board of Land and Natural Resources adopted herbivore fishing rules in 2023 to protect populations of herbivorous fishes. Your Committee further finds that thriving populations of herbivorous fishes are essential to coral reef health. Accordingly, this measure ensures that the Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement has the necessary funds to purchase the necessary equipment to enforce these rules.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Changing the appropriations to unspecified amounts;

(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 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 S.B. No. 561, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 561, 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,

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LORRAINE R. INOUYE, Chair