STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2260

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2437

       S.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2014

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committees on Economic Development, Government Operations and Housing, Transportation and International Affairs, and Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 2437 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO TRANSIT,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to require all state agencies within one-half mile of proposed rail stations to enter into memoranda of understanding with each other and convene working groups that include representatives of the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation to determine how the transit station will meet workforce housing demand and contribute to transit ridership and to identify emerging industry and industry growth opportunities.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Stadium Authority, Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation, The Pacific Resource Partnership, General Contractors Association of Hawaii, and one individual.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the City and County of Honolulu Department of Planning and Permitting.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Accounting and General Services and Department of Land and Natural Resources.

     Your Committees find that the State owns significant amounts of land around the proposed rail transit stations in Honolulu.  It is important that these surrounding lands are analyzed for the impact the transit stations will have on the various communities, particularly in areas of workforce and housing.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

     (1)  Inserting language to clarify that any memoranda of understanding established between state agencies pursuant to this measure is not in lieu of any regulatory function; and

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

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Economic Development, Government Operations and Housing, Transportation and International Affairs, and Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2437, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2437, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Economic Development, Government Operations and Housing, Transportation and International Affairs, and Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs,

____________________________ J. KALANI ENGLISH, Chair	____________________________ DONOVAN M. DELA CRUZ, Chair
	____________________________ WILL ESPERO, Chair