STAND. COM. REP. NO. 46

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 98

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. 98 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to require the Auditor to audit the Department of Land and Natural Resources' Division of Aquatic Resources' expenditures of funds received from the federal Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from one individual. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Office of the Auditor; Department of Land and Natural Resources; and Hawai‘i Fishermen's Alliance for Conservation and Tradition, Inc.

Your Committee finds that government auditing is a cornerstone of good public sector governance. In 2022, the State received over $10 million in federal money from the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program, also known as the Pittman-Robertson Dingell-Johnson/Wallop-Breaux Program. The purpose of the funds is to support sustainable fishing, hunting, and wildlife conservation in Hawaii. Your Committee finds that oversight of these funds is necessary for good governance. Therefore, this measure requires the Auditor to conduct an audit of the Department of Land and Natural Resources' Division of Aquatic Resources to determine how funds received from the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program have been expended.

Your Committee notes the testimony of the Department and Land and Natural Resources stating that they can provide their own report summarizing how Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program funds were expended and your Committee appreciates the budget breakdown submitted as part of the Department's written testimony.

Therefore, your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Requiring the Division of Aquatic Resources to submit an annual report to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2025 and each regular session thereafter;

(2) Amending section 1 to reflect its amended purpose; and

(3) 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. 98, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 98, 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