Bill Text: HI HB1657 | 2022 | Regular Session | Amended

Hawaii House Bill 1657 (Prior Session Legislation)

Bill Title: Relating To Leases.

Spectrum: Strong Partisan Bill (Democrat 16-1)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2022-03-11 - Referred to WTL/AEN, WAM/JDC. [HB1657 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2022-HB1657-Amended.html

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	1657
THIRTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2022		H.D. 1
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

RELATING TO LEASES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that Act 90, Session Laws of Hawaii 2003 (Act 90), was enacted to transfer certain non-agricultural park lands from the department of land and natural resources to the department of agriculture. While three hundred parcels consisting of approximately nineteen thousand acres have been transferred over the past seventeen years, many parcels have not been transferred.

The legislature further finds that Act 139, Session Laws of Hawaii 2021, established the Act 90 working group to determine the process, status, challenges, and potential remedies regarding the transfer of non-agricultural park lands to fulfill the purposes of Act 90.

The purpose of this Act is to adopt a recommendation from the Act 90 working group that requires as a condition precedent for any valid withdrawal of lands out of pasture leases for reforestation purposes that the division of forestry and wildlife submit a funded action plan detailing the planned reforestation process for those lands and that the withdrawal be approved by the board of land and natural resources.

SECTION 2. Section 171-37, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§171-37 Lease restrictions; intensive agricultural and pasture uses. In addition to the restrictions provided in section 171-36, the following restrictions shall apply to all leases for intensive agricultural and pasture uses:

(1) The lease term shall not be less than fifteen years nor more than thirty-five years, except that if the type of disposition requires the lessee to occupy the premises as the lessee's own personal residence, the lease term may be longer than thirty-five years; provided that the lease term shall not be in excess of seventy-five years, except that in the case of a tree-crop orchard lease, the term shall not be in excess of forty-five years;

(2) If the land being leased is not immediately productive and requires extensive expenditures for clearing, conditioning of the soil, the securing of water, the planting of grasses, or the construction of improvements, as the result of which a longer term is necessary to amortize the lessee's investment, then the lease term may be longer than thirty-five years, but not in excess of fifty-five years; and

(3) The land leased hereunder, or any portion thereof, shall be subject to withdrawal by the board at any time during the term of the lease with reasonable notice and compensation, as provided in section 171-37.5, for public uses or purposes, including residential, commercial, industrial, or resort developments, for constructing new roads or extensions, or changes in line or grade of existing roads, for rights-of-way and easements of all kinds, and shall be subject to the right of the board to remove soil, rock, or gravel as may be necessary for the construction of roads and rights-of-way within or without the demised premises. No lands in pasture leases shall be withdrawn for reforestation purposes unless:

(A) The division of forestry and wildlife submits a funded action plan to the board that details the planned reforestation process for those lands; and

(B) The board approves the withdrawal.

"Tree-crop", as used in this section, shall be exclusive of papaya and banana."

SECTION 3. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2050.

Report Title:

Withdrawal; Pasture Leases; BLNR Approval; Funded Action Plan

Description:

Requires as a condition precedent for any valid withdrawal of lands out of pasture leases for reforestation purposes that the division of forestry and wildlife submit a funded action plan detailing the planned reforestation process for those lands and that the withdrawal be approved by the board of land and natural resources. Effective 7/1/2050. (HD1)

The summary description of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.