STAND. COM. REP. NO.  341-10

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2010

 

RE:   H.B. No. 2960

      H.D. 1

 

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Fifth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2010

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committees on Energy & Environmental Protection and Water, Land, & Ocean Resources, to which was referred H.B. No. 2960 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE ENVIRONMENT,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure is to exempt qualified actions that protect, preserve, or enhance the environment, land, and natural resources from the state environmental review process.

 

     The Nature Conservancy submitted testimony supporting the intent of this measure.  The Department of Land and Natural Resources, Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Sierra Club, and the Outdoor Circle submitted testimony in opposition.

 

     Your Committees find that there is a need to streamline the process for environmentally friendly projects by exempting them from the environmental review process.  However, your Committees find that, as drafted, this measure may actually increase the burden on conservation projects by creating a duplicative, administratively complex, and unclear process.

 

     Accordingly, your Committees have amended the measure by:

 

     (1)  Providing for exemptions for projects approved by the Department of Land and Natural Resources that:

 

     (A)  Protect, preserve, or enhance native species, native habitats, and native ecosystem functions; and

 

     (B)  Will probably have minimal or no significant effects on the environment;

 

     (2)  Providing examples of projects meant to qualify for the exemption; and

 

     (3)  Deleting the remaining provisions in the bill relating to the administrative process requirements for obtaining an exemption.

 

     Your Committees have also changed the effective date of the measure to June 30, 2050, to promote further discussion.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Energy & Environmental Protection and Water, Land, & Ocean Resources that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2960, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2960, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Energy & Environmental Protection and Water, Land, & Ocean Resources,

 

 

____________________________ KEN ITO, Chair		____________________________ HERMINA MORITA, Chair