STAND. COM. REP. NO. 199

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 1291

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2023

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Water and Land and Government Operations, to which was referred S.B. No. 1291 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO SEA LEVEL RISE ADAPTATION,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to require the Office of Planning and Sustainable Development, in cooperation with each state agency having operational responsibilities over state facilities, to develop a standardized process to conduct vulnerability assessments for facilities at risk from sea level rise and guidance to agencies on how to conduct the vulnerability assessments for their facilities.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of Planning and Sustainable Development; Department of Land and Natural Resources; Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism; University of Hawai‘i Sea Grant College Program; Hawai‘i Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Commission; and Imua Alliance.

Your Committees find that to successfully adapt to climate change and sea level rise, state agencies must plan, coordinate, and act to assure Hawaii's sustainable and resilient future and mitigate against societal or economic disruptions caused by climate impacts. Therefore, this measure requires the Office of Planning and Sustainable Development, in cooperation with each state agency having operational responsibilities over state facilities, to develop a standardized process to conduct vulnerability assessments for facilities at risk from sea level rise and provide guidance to agencies.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Inserting a blank appropriation amount;

(2) Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion; and

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

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Water and Land and Government Operations that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1291, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1291, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Water and Land and Government Operations,

________________________________ ANGUS L.K. MCKELVEY, Chair

________________________________ LORRAINE R. INOUYE, Chair