STAND. COM. REP. NO. 172

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 82

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2023

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Water and Land, to which was referred S.B. No. 82 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE BOARD OF LAND AND NATURAL RESOURCES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to limit the discretion of the Department of Land and Natural Resources' Land Division by requiring the Board of Land and Natural Resources to approve all revoked, limited, condemned, removed, or modified public land leases or revocable permits.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Maui County Farm Bureau. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources.

Your Committee finds that to effectively manage public lands, oversight of how the lands are used is necessary to ensure that Hawaii's people thrive. Your Committee further finds that the Department of Land and Natural Resources' Land Division has significant discretion to revoke, limit, remove, or modify leases granted by the Department, issue condemnations, and rescind revocable permits without prior approval from the Board of Land and Natural Resources. Your Committee believes that enhanced review of public land leases and revocable permits would allow the State to ensure that the use of public lands best benefits Hawaii's people. Therefore, this measure limits the discretion of the Department of Land and Natural Resources' Land Division by requiring the Board of Land and Natural Resources to approve all revoked, limited, condemned, removed, or modified public land leases or revocable permits.

Your Committee has amended this measure by inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion.

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. 82, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 82, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary.

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

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LORRAINE R. INOUYE, Chair