STAND. COM. REP. NO. 96-20

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2020

RE: H.B. No. 2207

H.D. 1

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirtieth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2020

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Transportation, to which was referred H.B. No. 2207 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO LAND USE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to provide authorization and appropriate funds to the Office of Planning to conduct a land use study for Hauula, Oahu, that assesses the viability and cost of maintaining the transit corridor, including mid- and long-term adaptation strategies associated with accommodating, protecting, and if necessary, relocating, the corridor.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Transportation and Hawaii Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Commission. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Office of Planning.

Your Committee finds that climate change is the overriding challenge of the twenty-first century and one of the top priority issues of the Legislature. Your Committee further finds that eroding coastlines threaten Hawaii's assets that serve as critical infrastructure, including the State's highway system. One key piece of road infrastructure facing the challenges of climate change is the coastal highways in Hauula. The Department of Transportation has had to conduct emergency repairs along portions of the coastal highways in Hauula in April 2019, and again in January 2020. Mid-term and long-term solutions must be identified to ensure the public has access to safe, efficient, and sustainable transit corridors, such as the highways in Hauula. This measure will begin to identify climate adaptation strategy options that address the impacts of coastal erosion on coastal highways by authorizing the Office of Planning to conduct a land use study for Hauula that assess the viability and cost of maintaining its highways.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Requiring, instead of permitting, the Office of Planning to conduct a land use study for Hauula, Oahu, to assess the viability and cost of maintaining the transit corridor;

(2) Changing its effective date to July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion; and

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

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Transportation that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2207, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2207, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Water, Land, & Hawaiian Affairs.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Transportation,

____________________________

HENRY J.C. AQUINO, Chair