STAND. COM. REP. NO. 94

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 71

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 Agriculture and Environment, to which was referred S.B. No. 71 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENTS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to exempt the proposed drilling, construction, or use of a well and well appurtenances on lands leased from the Department of Agriculture from environmental review requirements, provided that the land is being used to support agriculture and food production.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawai‘i Farm Bureau. Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Sierra Club of Hawai‘i and two individuals. Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources, Office of Planning and Sustainable Development, and Department of Agriculture.

Your Committees find that existing environmental review requirements can inhibit important agricultural and food production projects and limit the feasibility of new agricultural operations. Your Committees further find that removing regulatory burdens such as environmental review for certain activities and uses can help local agricultural production. Therefore, this measure exempts the proposed drilling, construction, or use of a well and well appurtenances on lands leased from the Department of Agriculture from environmental review requirements, provided that the land is being used to support agriculture and food production.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Deleting "from environmental impact statements" from the new section title to clarify that the intent of this measure is to exempt the activities so described from all environmental review requirements under chapter 343, Hawaii Revised Statutes, and not limited specifically to environmental impact statement review; and

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

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. 71, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 71, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committees on Judiciary and 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