Report Title:
Safe Harbor Agreements
Description:
Expands the definition of a "landowner" who can enter into safe harbor agreements and habitat conservation plans to include the public sector. Subjects BLNR approval of any habitat conservation plan or safe harbor agreement for public lands to legislative disapproval.(HB2552 HD1)
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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
H.B. NO. |
2552 |
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TWENTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2002 |
H.D. 1 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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A BILL FOR AN ACT
RELATING TO THE DEFINITION OF LANDOWNER FOR SAFE HARBOR AGREEMENTS AND HABITAT CONSERVATION PLANS.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
SECTION 1. Section 195D-2, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending the definition of "landowner" to read as follows:
""Landowner" means [the owner of the fee simple interest in private land;] an owner of land or any estate or interest in that land;"
SECTION 2. Section 195D-21, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (b) to read as follows:
"(b) Except as otherwise provided by law, the board, upon recommendation from the department, in cooperation with other state, federal, county, or private organizations and landowners, after a public hearing on the island affected, and upon an affirmative vote of not less than two-thirds of its authorized membership, may enter into a habitat conservation plan, if it determines that the plan will further the purposes of this chapter by protecting, maintaining, restoring, or enhancing identified ecosystems, natural communities, or habitat types upon which endangered, threatened, proposed, or candidate species depend within the area covered by the plan; that the plan will increase the likelihood of recovery of the endangered or threatened species that are the focus of the plan; and that the plan satisfies all the requirements of this chapter. The approval by the board of any habitat conservation plan for public lands shall be subject to disapproval by the legislature by two-thirds vote of either the senate or the house of representatives or by the majority vote of both, in any regular or special session next following the date of the board approval. Habitat conservation plans may allow conservation rental agreements, habitat banking, and direct payments. Any habitat conservation plan approved pursuant to this section shall be based on the best available scientific and other reliable data available at the time the plan is approved.
Each habitat conservation plan shall:
(1) Identify the geographic area encompassed by the plan; the ecosystems, natural communities, or habitat types within the plan area that are the focus of the plan; and the endangered, threatened, proposed, and candidate species known or reasonably expected to be present in those ecosystems, natural communities, or habitat types in the plan area;
(2) Describe the activities contemplated to be undertaken within the plan area with sufficient detail to allow the department to evaluate the impact of the activities on the particular ecosystems, natural communities, or habitat types within the plan area that are the focus of the plan;
(3) Identify the steps that will be taken to minimize and mitigate all negative impacts, including without limitation the impact of any authorized incidental take, with consideration of the full range of the species on the island so that cumulative impacts associated with the take can be adequately assessed; and the funding that will be available to implement those steps;
(4) Identify those measures or actions to be undertaken to protect, maintain, restore, or enhance the ecosystems, natural communities, or habitat types within the plan area; a schedule for implementation of the measures or actions; and an adequate funding source to ensure that the actions or measures, including monitoring, are undertaken in accordance with the schedule;
(5) Be consistent with the goals and objectives of any approved recovery plan for any endangered species or threatened species known or reasonably expected to occur in the ecosystems, natural communities, or habitat types in the plan area;
(6) Provide reasonable certainty that the ecosystems, natural communities, or habitat types will be maintained in the plan area, throughout the life of the plan, in sufficient quality, distribution, and extent to support within the plan area those species typically associated with the ecosystems, natural communities, or habitat types, including any endangered, threatened, proposed, and candidate species known or reasonably expected to be present in the ecosystems, natural communities, or habitat types within the plan area;
(7) Contain objective, measurable goals, the achievement of which will contribute significantly to the protection, maintenance, restoration, or enhancement of the ecosystems, natural communities, or habitat types; time frames within which the goals are to be achieved; provisions for monitoring (such as field sampling techniques), including periodic monitoring by representatives of the department or the endangered species recovery committee, or both; and provisions for evaluating progress in achieving the goals quantitatively and qualitatively; and
(8) Provide for an adaptive management strategy that specifies the actions to be taken periodically if the plan is not achieving its goals."
SECTION 3. Section 195D-22, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:
"(a) To encourage landowners to voluntarily engage in efforts that benefit endangered, threatened, proposed, and candidate species, except as otherwise provided by law, the board, upon approval by not less than two-thirds of the board's authorized membership, after a public hearing on the island affected, may enter into a safe harbor agreement with one or more landowners to create, restore, or improve habitats or to maintain currently unoccupied habitats that threatened or endangered species can be reasonably expected to use, if the board determines that the cumulative activities, if any, contemplated to be undertaken within the areas covered by the agreement are environmentally beneficial. The approval by the board of any safe harbor agreement for public lands shall be subject to disapproval by the legislature by two-thirds vote of either the senate or the house of representatives or by the majority vote of both, in any regular or special session next following the date of the board approval. The board shall notify the public of the proposed safe harbor agreement through the periodic bulletin of the office of environmental quality control and make the proposed agreement available for public review and comment not less than sixty days prior to approval."
SECTION 4. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.
SECTION 5. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.