STAND. COM. REP. NO. 330

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 367

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2021

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Water and Land and Agriculture and Environment, to which was referred S.B. No. 367 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO WATER QUALITY,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to waive the requirement for Section 401 Water Quality Certification for any applicant that has received a notice of authorization to proceed from the Department of Land and Natural Resources, Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands under its small-scale beach restoration program.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources, Department of Health, and Hawai‘i Shore and Beach Preservation Association.

Your Committees find that waiving the requirement of water quality certification for small-scale beach restoration projects will result in the efficient administration of site-specific water pollution control and more practical and realistic erosion control alternatives to the deleterious practice of coastal armoring. Your Committees further find that the intent of this measure is not to undermine provisions of the Federal Clean Water Act. According to testimony received by your Committees, the Department of Land and Natural Resources will enforce permit conditions that are consistent with Section 401 of the Federal Clean Water Act pertaining to beach restoration and water quality protection.

Your Committees have amended this measure by 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 Water and Land and Agriculture and Environment that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 367, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 367, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary.

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

________________________________ MIKE GABBARD, Chair

________________________________ LORRAINE R. INOUYE, Chair