STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3276

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2381

S.D. 2

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirtieth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2020

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred S.B. No. 2381, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO SHORELINE SETBACKS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to establish required shoreline setbacks of not less than forty feet inland from the shoreline and an altitude of at least two meters above sea level.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from two individuals. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Land Use Research Foundation of Hawaii. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources, Office of Planning, and County of Hawai‘i Planning Department.

Your Committee finds that coastal real property in the State is vulnerable to coastal erosion and flooding from tsunamis, storms, and high waves: hazards that are being exacerbated by sea level rise and climate change. Your Committee further finds that numerous court decisions have affirmed that privately-owned oceanfront land is lost when shorelines undergo landward retreat, thus making oceanfront properties smaller. Since oceanfront properties experience landward retreat, building setbacks need to be adjusted to respond to this new geographic landscape. This measure, therefore, establishes greater shoreline setback requirements.

Your Committee notes that the requisite shoreline setback should be established at forty feet inland of the high-water mark and an altitude of at least two meters above the shoreline. Your Committee understands that such a setback requirement could create a parcel of land that is safe for building yet surrounded by setback areas. Your Committee believes this to be acceptable with the appropriately designed infrastructure.

Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by specifying that the setback established along shorelines are not less than an altitude of at least two meters above the shoreline, rather than sea level.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2381, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2381, S.D. 2.

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

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KARL RHOADS, Chair