STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2259

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2184

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 Water and Land and Agriculture and Environment, to which was referred S.B. No. 2184 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ADAPTATION PATHWAYS PLANNING,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to expand the authority of the State and counties to develop adaptation pathways plans to modify and relocate infrastructure away from critically threatened areas to locations outside sea level rise and coastal flooding exposure areas.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of Planning and Sustainable Development, Hawaiʻi Climate Change Mitigation Adaptation Commission, University of Hawaiʻi Sea Grant College Program and Climate Resilience Collaborative, Surfrider Foundation, and two individuals.

Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources.

Your Committees find that rising sea level threatens built environments and numerous economic sectors across the State. It is essential to support and safeguard vulnerable communities and to protect and conserve invaluable public trust resources, including sandy beaches and dune systems, which are valuable for their cultural importance and ecosystem role, from the impacts of sea level rise. This measure will enable and encourage state and county agencies to engage in and implement long-term adaptation pathway planning, together with affected communities, to facilitate natural-resource conservation and reduce the loss of public and private infrastructure to damage associated with sea level rise and flooding.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Clarifying that the definition of "adaptation pathways plan" includes areas with environmental triggers or infrastructure damage triggers;

(2) Specifying that the adaptation pathways may include restoration or remediation of the shoreline after removal of structures and materials;

(3) Specifying that regional scale adaptation pathway plans facilitate adaptation of vulnerable private residential, commercial, industrial, and resort development and the restoration or remediation of the shoreline where necessary;

(4) Clarifying that the adaptation pathways plan may include modifications shown to have minimal impact on coastal and cultural resources, and include a proposed timeline and environmental triggers for the remediation or restoration of the land;

(5) Clarifying that adaptation actions and triggers for actions that are appropriate to the individual location, include relocation of private development;

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

(7) 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 Agriculture and Environment that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2184, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2184, 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 Agriculture and Environment,

________________________________ MIKE GABBARD, Chair

________________________________ LORRAINE R. INOUYE, Chair