STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2060

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2760

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Water and Land, to which was referred S.B. No. 2760 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO TRAILS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate funds for the establishment of a permanent full-time equivalent land and access specialist position and a permanent full-time equivalent abstractor position to adequately address the Nā Ala Hele program's needs regarding statewide public trail access.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources and one individual. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Budget and Finance.

Your Committee finds that the Hawaii Statewide Trail and Access Program, known as Nā Ala Hele, was established in 1988 in response to public concern about the loss of public access to certain trails and the threat to historic trails from development pressure. Many of Hawaii's most popular trails are listed in guidebooks and increasingly publicized on social media, which involve trespassing on private property. In areas lacking public access to trails, challenges arise from safety, landowner liability, and public access. Therefore, your Committee finds that greater resources are needed to balance the interests of public access to and protection of Hawaii's trails.

This measure establishes a land and access specialist position and abstractor position to address the Na Ala Hele program needs regarding the expansion, access, and protection of public trail access statewide.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Inserting a blank appropriation amount for the land and access specialist and abstractor positions;

(2) Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion; and

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

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Water and Land that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2760, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2760, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

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

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LORRAINE R. INOUYE, Chair