STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1037

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 554

S.D. 2

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirtieth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2019

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Judiciary and Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 554, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO STATE WATER CODE PENALTIES,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Add a minimum penalty of $50 per violation to the state water code and make each day that a violation exists or continues a separate offense; and

(2) Require the Commission on Water Resource Management to determine the amount of the penalty based on the circumstances of the violation.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources and O‘ahu County Committees on Legislative Priorities of the Democratic Party of Hawai‘i. Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of Agriculture.

Your Committees find that the Legislature adopted the state water code in 1987 to protect the water resources of the State of Hawai‘i. Your Committees further find that the water code's penalties and fines must be strengthened to deter violators because current fines and penalties appear to be too low to act as an effective deterrent. Your Committees additionally find that current language of the state water code may limit the Commission on Water Resource Management's ability to impose daily fines for unpermitted activities, and that this issue has recently come up before the Commission. This measure will clarify and strengthen the state water code and facilitate enforcement activities by the Commission.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Reinserting language that requires the Commission on Water Resource Management to assess a fine for a continuing violation from the earliest known date of the violation and to determine the earliest known date of continuing violation by a preponderance of the evidence; and

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

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Judiciary and Ways and Means that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 554, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 554, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Judiciary and Ways and Means,

________________________________ DONOVAN M. DELA CRUZ, Chair

________________________________ KARL RHOADS, Chair