STAND. COM. REP. NO.  23-14

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2014

RE:   H.B. No. 2103

      H.D. 1

Honorable Joseph M. Souki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2014

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committees on Ocean, Marine Resources, & Hawaiian Affairs and Water & Land, to which was referred H.B. No. 2103 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE AHA MOKU ADVISORY COMMITTEE,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to continue efforts to make Hawaii's ecosystem sustainable through the use of the Aha Moku System by:

     (1)  Designating the Aha Moku Advisory Committee (Committee) as a permanent entity within the Department of Land and Natural Resources;

     (2)  Requiring that the Committee hire an executive director;

     (3)  Setting forth qualifications to be possessed by the executive director;

     (4)  Requiring the Committee to report to the Legislature twenty days after the closing of each fiscal year;

     (5)  Requiring the executive director to be included in all matters considered by the Board of Land and Natural Resources that pertain to natural resources; and

     (6)  Appropriating funds for fiscal year 2014-2015 for the Committee's administrative and operational expenses.

Two individuals provided testimony in support of this measure.  The Department of Land and Natural Resources provided comments on this measure.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

     (1)  Changing its effective date to July 1, 2020, for the purpose of facilitating further discussion; and

     (2)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

     Your Committees note that further consideration of the constitutionality of the requirement that the executive director hired be of native Hawaiian ancestry may be advisable.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Ocean, Marine Resources, & Hawaiian Affairs and Water & Land that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2103, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2103, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Finance.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Ocean, Marine Resources, & Hawaiian Affairs and Water & Land,

____________________________ CINDY EVANS, Chair

____________________________ FAYE P. HANOHANO, Chair