STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2344

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2445

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2024

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Transportation and Culture and the Arts, to which was referred S.B. No. 2445 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to require the Department of Transportation to identify an emergency egress route other than Komo Mai Drive from Pacific Palisades or, if no other route can be found, determine the feasibility of constructing an alternate emergency egress route.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from two members of the Pearl City Neighborhood Board and one individual.

Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from one individual.

Your Committee finds that Pacific Palisades is vulnerable to natural disasters such as hurricane winds and flash flooding. The community is built on a plateau above the main portion of Pearl City, with the only access road to the area being Komo Mai Drive, which is a steep, winding, one-lane road with a hairpin turn at the base of Pacific Palisades. Various emergencies, including water main breaks, felled trees, hostage events, flooding, traffic accidents, and police activities have required the closure of Komo Mai Drive and left the residents of Pacific Palisades unable to return home or leave their neighborhood, forcing them to wait hours for the road to open. This measure will provide residents of Pacific Palisades with an alternate route to escape in the event of an emergency or natural disaster.

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

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Transportation and Culture and the Arts that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2445, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2445, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Transportation and Culture and the Arts,

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CHRIS LEE, Chair