STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2118

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2023

RE: S.B. No. 44

S.D. 2

H.D. 3

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2023

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Finance, to which was referred S.B. No. 44, S.D. 2, H.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO STATE WATER CODE PENALTIES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to strengthen the State Water Code by:

(1) Adding a minimum penalty of $50 per violation and a maximum penalty of $60,000 per violation of the State Water Code and making each day that a violation exists or continues to exist a separate offense;

(2) Requiring the Commission on Water Resource Management to determine the amount of the penalty based on the circumstances of the violation; and

(3) Appropriating funds for two full-time equivalent positions within the Commission on Water Resource Management.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources and Hawai‘i Reef and Ocean Coalition. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from one individual.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Changing the number of full-time equivalent positions funded by this measure to an unspecified number; 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 Finance that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 44, S.D. 2, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 44, S.D. 2, H.D. 3.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Finance,

____________________________

KYLE T. YAMASHITA, Chair