STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1032-22

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2022

RE: S.B. No. 204

S.D. 1

H.D. 1

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Water & Land, to which was referred S.B. No. 204, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO AQUATIC RESOURCES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to authorize the Department of Land and Natural Resources to use aquatic in-lieu fee mitigation to restore, create, enhance, or preserve aquatic habitats or resources where a person is required to provide compensatory mitigation either:

(1) Prospectively, and the use of in-lieu fee mitigation is approved by the agency requiring mitigation; or

(2) For past damages to aquatic habitats or resources.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources and Mahikū A‘o Mai, LLC.

Your Committee finds that natural resource management agencies prefer third-party mitigation banks or in-lieu fee mitigation to permittee-responsible mitigation because these third-party mitigation bank or in-lieu fee sponsors are often public or private entities with more experience, scientific expertise, and vested long-term interest in natural resource conservation. In-lieu fee mitigation is widely used across the United States to achieve ecologically valuable conservation by restoring wetland and stream habitats but has seen increasing national interest for use in improving coral reefs, sea grass, and estuarine habitats. The authority granted to the Department of Land and Natural Resources in this measure would allow Hawaii to become the first state in the nation to establish in-lieu fee mitigation for coral reefs.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

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

(2) 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 Water & Land that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 204, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 204, S.D. 1, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Water & Land,

____________________________

DAVID A. TARNAS, Chair