STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3306

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 2248

H.D. 1

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2024

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Higher Education, Water and Land, and Agriculture and Environment, to which was referred H.B. No. 2248, H.D. 1, entitled:

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

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate funds to the University of Hawaii Sea Grant College Program to develop a North Shore Beach Management and Climate Adaptation 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 Hawaiʻi System; Shoreline Preservation Coalition; Hawaiʻi Reef and Ocean Coalition; Surfrider Foundation, Hawaiʻi Region; and four individuals.

Your Committees find that the North Shore of Oahu faces 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. The infrastructure of most of the shoreline beach parks and coastal access areas along the North Shore of Oahu is inadequate to handle the high number of residents and visitors who are attracted to these beaches each year. Further, as the State's beaches and coastline constitute part of the public trust, the State has a fiduciary duty to affirmatively protect beach and coastal access. Accordingly, this measure provides the University of Hawaii Sea Grant College Program with resources necessary to address rising challenges that impact Oahu's North Shore beaches and coastlines.

Your Committees expressed concerns regarding the collaborative efforts to accomplish the North Shore Beach Management and Climate Adaptation Plan. As the solutions to address the North Shore will require significant involvement from the counties, your Committees raised concerns that the State is taking the lead on a project that requires collaboration from the counties and the impacted communities. Additionally, your Committees note concerns that there may be challenges with community unity to develop solutions for the Beach Management and Climate Adaptation Plan based on competing interests. Your Committees therefore recommend that the counties utilize the neighborhood board system to facilitate community outreach and engagement to ensure all voices are heard while reducing the fiscal impact.

Your Committees have amended this measure by making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

Your Committees note that this measure contains an unspecified appropriation amount. Should your Committee on Ways and Means choose to deliberate on this measure, your Committees respectfully request that it consider inserting an appropriation amount of $1,000,000, for fiscal year 2024-2025.

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

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Higher Education, Water and Land, and Agriculture and Environment,

________________________________ LORRAINE R. INOUYE, Chair	________________________________ DONNA MERCADO KIM, Chair
	________________________________ MIKE GABBARD, Chair