STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1214

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2025

RE: S.B. No. 1146

S.D. 1

H.D. 1

Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2025

State of Hawaii

Madame:

Your Committee on Higher Education, to which was referred S.B. No. 1146, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE ALA WAI CANAL,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to appropriate funds to the University of Hawaii:

(1) For the development of an action plan and pre‑engineering concept plan to help with debris management and water quality control in the Ala Wai watershed;

(2) To establish two graduate assistant positions to assist with the action plan and pre-engineering concept plan; and

(3) For partial summer overload support for faculty mentors providing oversight of the student project teams.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources; University of Hawaiʻi System; Waikiki Neighborhood Board; Waikīkī Beach Special Improvement District Association; and three individuals.

Your Committee finds that the Ala Wai canal was built in the 1920s and is the largest artificial waterway in Hawaii. Your Committee further finds that floating debris in the Ala Wai canal has been a persistent problem, severely harming recreational users and the Hawaii's aquatic habitats in nearshore waters. This measure appropriates funds to the University of Hawaii for the development of an action plan and pre-engineering concept plan to help address the debris accumulation and management in the Ala Waia watershed.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Changing the effective date to July 1, 3000, to encourage further discussion; and

(2) 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 Higher Education that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1146, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1146, S.D. 1, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Water & Land.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Higher Education,

____________________________

ANDREW TAKUYA GARRETT, Chair