STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3047

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2814

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 Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 2814 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO WATER INFRASTRUCTURE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to inventory and assess the State's existing water infrastructure.

Specifically, this measure:

(1) Requires the Department of Agriculture, in collaboration with the Agribusiness Development Corporation and the counties, to conduct a water infrastructure study; and

(2) Appropriates moneys to the Department of Agriculture to conduct the study.

Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the Agribusiness Development Corporation, Ulupono Initiative, Hawaii Farm Bureau, Local Food Coalition, and Hawaii Community Foundation.

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

Your Committee finds that the regulation and monitoring of wells, irrigation ditches, reservoirs, and pump stations in the State are overseen by multiple agencies that have overlapping priorities and objectives. These agencies provide several informational inputs into a disjointed monitoring system that relies upon cooperation among the different agencies. As a result, the State presently lacks a complete inventory and comprehensive data system to track the condition and maintenance needs of water infrastructure in Hawaii.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Changing the amount appropriated to an unspecified sum; and

(2) Changing the effective date to July 1, 2050, to facilitate further discussion on the measure.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2814, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2814, S.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

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DONOVAN M. DELA CRUZ, Chair