STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2700
Honolulu, Hawaii
RE: S.B. No. 618
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 Government Operations, to which was referred S.B. No. 618 entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO A STATE PERMITTING OFFICE,"
begs leave to report as follows:
The purpose and intent of this measure is to:
(2) Make
an appropriation of an unspecified amount of funds for the establishment of the State Permitting Office.
Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from two individuals.
Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Accounting and General Services and Department of Education.
Your Committee finds that existing permitting procedures are lengthy, causing delays in new construction or major renovations by several years. However, certain state facilities require immediate attention to protect the safety of public users and state employees. This measure ensures government agencies have timely access to building permits for increased efficiency in infrastructure construction and major renovations.
According to testimony received by your Committee, although the State has the ability to exempt itself from the county-driven permitting process, the Department of Accounting and General Services has used the exemption on a very limited basis, because and doing so may create more problems than benefits, such as the inability to obtain liability insurance or county services, which include emergency first response; water, wastewater, and other infrastructure connection; and trash collection.
Your Committee has
amended this measure by:
(1) Deleting
section 2 of this measure, which would have established the State Permitting
Office and replacing it with language that requires the Department of
Accounting and General Services to establish a five-year State Permit Pilot Program
to process building and infrastructure permits for the construction of
state-owned buildings, state roads and highways, and other construction on
state lands in the wildfire disaster declaration area;
(2) Deleting
language that would have made an appropriation of an unspecified amount of
funds for the establishment of the State Permitting Office, and replacing it
with language that appropriates $1,000,000 to the Department of Accounting and
General Services for the establishment and administration of the first fiscal
year of the State Permit Pilot Program;
(3) Amending
section 1 to reflect its amended purpose;
(4) Inserting
an effective date of July 1, 2112, to encourage further discussion; and
(5) Making
technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and
consistency.
Your Committee respectfully requests that, should your Committee on Ways and Means choose to deliberate on this measure, that it consider language that requires the pursuit of federal disaster funds in response to the destruction from the August 2023 Maui wildfires, similar to that of Kauai from Hurricane Iniki in 1992. Your Committee notes that federal disaster funding should assist the county by providing resources to lessen the permit load and allow the county to concentrate on other county projects and private permitting.
As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Government Operations that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 618, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 618, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Government Operations,
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________________________________ ANGUS L.K. MCKELVEY, Chair |
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