STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2317

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2876

       S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2016

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committees on Housing and Water, Land, and Agriculture, to which was referred S.B. No. 2876 entitled:

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

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to exempt lands to which the Hawaii Public Housing Authority holds title from the definition of "public lands" in section 171-2, Hawaii Revised Statutes.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Public Housing Authority.

     Your Committees find that the Hawaii Public Housing Authority is authorized to acquire, own, and hold real property; therefore, its titled lands do not fall under the catchall jurisdiction of state "public lands" under the Department of Land and Natural Resources' jurisdiction.  The Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation lands have been exempted from the definition of "public lands" under section 171-2, Hawaii Revised Statutes.  Accordingly, the Hawaii Public Housing Authority lands should also be exempted from "public lands" as this exemption will clarify the ability of the Authority to take certain actions on its lands.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by making a technical, nonsubstantive amendment for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Housing and Water, Land, and Agriculture that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2876, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2876, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Housing and Water, Land, and Agriculture,

________________________________ MIKE GABBARD, Chair

________________________________ BREENE HARIMOTO, Chair