Bill Text: HI SB915 | 2019 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating To Water.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 7-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-02-20 - Re-Referred to WTL. [SB915 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2019-SB915-Introduced.html
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THE SENATE |
S.B. NO. |
915 |
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THIRTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2019 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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A BILL FOR AN ACT
relating to water.
BE IT
ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
SECTION 1. The legislature finds that the board of land and natural resources lacks rules for rendering decisions on land dispositions that authorize water diversion from streams. The legislature believes that public trust principles must guide these decisions and must supersede commercial interests and that the impacts of climate change are not sufficiently clear to allow for any disposition lasting more than fifteen years.
The purpose of this Act is to:
(1) Prohibit the board of land and natural resources from approving dispositions that authorize the diversion of water from streams, except under specified circumstances; and
(2) Require moneys collected through land
dispositions that authorize the diversion of water from streams to be deposited
into the forest stewardship fund.
SECTION 2. Chapter 171, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:
"§171- Dispositions
that authorize the diversion of water from streams. (a)
The board shall not approve a disposition that authorizes or has the effect
of authorizing the diversion of water from a stream unless:
(1) The
authorization is for no more than fifteen years;
(2) The board has
accurate information as to how much water flows in a stream and how much water
is proposed to be diverted from it;
(3) The fee charged
is at least ninety per cent of the avoided cost to the applicant of obtaining
the water from an alternative source;
(4) At all times no
more than half of the water in a stream is diverted from the stream;
(5) The board
concludes that the diversion will not adversely impact the ecological,
cultural, recreational, and aesthetic values of the stream; and
(6) All other legal
requirements are met.
(b) Moneys collected through any land disposition that authorizes or has the effect of authorizing the diversion of water from a stream shall be deposited into the forest stewardship fund established pursuant to section 195F-4; provided that the department of Hawaiian home lands and the office of Hawaiian affairs shall receive their respective constitutionally-entitled shares."
SECTION 3. New statutory material is underscored.
SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
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INTRODUCED BY: |
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Report Title:
Water Rights; Land Disposition; Water Diversion from Streams; Forest Stewardship Fund
Description:
Prohibits BLNR from approving dispositions that authorize the diversion of water from streams except under specified criteria. Deposits moneys collected via land dispositions that authorize the diversion of water from streams into the forest stewardship fund.
The summary description
of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is
not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.
