STAND. COM. REP. NO. 493-24

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2024

RE: H.B. No. 2248

H.D. 1

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2024

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Water & Land and Higher Education & Technology, to which was referred H.B. No. 2248 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO BEACH MANAGEMENT ON THE NORTH SHORE OF OAHU,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to appropriate funds to the University of Hawaii Sea Grant College Program to develop a North Shore beach management plan for the North Shore of Oahu from Sunset Point to the Kapoʻo (Sharks Cove) area.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources; University of Hawai‘i Sea Grant College Program; Climate Resilience Collaborative; Shoreline Preservation Coalition; Surfrider Foundation, Oahu Chapter; and six individuals. Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of the Attorney General.

Your Committees find that North Shore beaches face an increasing risk of erosion and deterioration from a combination of high-energy waves, winter surf, summer swells, sea-level rise from climate change, coastal erosion, shifting sand, deteriorating coral reefs, and intensive use by individuals accessing the shoreline. This measure follows up on the recommendations of the North Shore Coastal Resilience Working Group to develop a beach and dune management plan for North Shore beach parks and accessways.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Specifying that this issue is a matter of statewide concern;

(2) Specifying that the beach management plan include a climate adaptation plan;

(3) Specifying that the beach management plan shall be submitted to the Governor and Legislature by December 1, 2025;

(4) Changing the appropriation to an unspecified amount;

(5) Changing the effective date to July 1, 3000, to encourage further discussion; and

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

Your Committees respectfully request your Committee on Finance, should it deliberate on this measure, to consider an appropriation amount of $3,000,000 for fiscal year 2024-2025.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Water & Land and Higher Education & Technology that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2248, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2248, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Finance.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Water & Land and Higher Education & Technology,

____________________________ AMY A. PERRUSO, Chair

____________________________ LINDA ICHIYAMA, Chair