STAND. COM. REP. NO.270-02

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2002

RE: H.B. No. 2266

H.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2002

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Water and Land Use, to which was referred H.B. No. 2266 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ACCRETED LANDS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to clarify the laws relating to the ownership of accreted lands by:

    1. Defining "accreted lands" as "lands formed by the gradual accumulation of sand along the ocean except for such accumulation within existing private property lines which restores land once eroded";
    2. Expanding the definition of "public lands" to included accredited lands.
    3. Limiting the registration of land by accretion to the State, except for lands accreted within private property lines when it restores eroded areas.

The Office of Environmental Quality Control (OEQC), Life of the Land, Sierra Club, Hawaii Chapter, Hawaii's Thousand Friends, and four concerned individuals testified in support of this measure. The Department of Land and Natural Resources supported the intent of this bill.

There is concern that some private landowners along the beach have used the accretion law to register title to accreted land even if the public has been using the land continuously for many years. To address this issue, your Committee reviewed bills that would require:

    1. The landowner to prove that accreted lands were in existence for at least 40 continuous years instead of 20 years;
    2. OEQC to publish notices of beachfront accretion applications; and
    3. That lands claimed under the State's accretion laws shall remain zoned for conversation.

After careful consideration, your Committee has amended this bill by

    1. Replacing the definition of accreted lands with language consistent with the definition of "accretion" as it appears in chapter 13-222, Hawaii Administrative Rules;
    2. Requiring OEQC to inform the public of any beachfront accretion applications;
    3. Deleting the authority for the Land Use Commission to designate accreted lands to any land use district except conservation; and
    4. Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purpose of consistency.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Water and Land Use that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2266, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2266, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Water and Land Use,

 

____________________________

EZRA KANOHO, Chair