STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1342-26

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2026

RE: S.B. No. 17

S.D. 2

H.D. 1

Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

Madame:

Your Committee on Water & Land, to which was referred S.B. No. 17, S.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO WILDFIRE MITIGATION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to:

(1) Establish, and make an appropriation for, a Wildfire Mitigation Working Group; and

(2) Amend appropriations made by Act 302, Session Laws of Hawaii 2025, to revise the positions funded for the Office of the State Fire Marshal by that Act.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of the Governor; Department of Hawaiian Home Lands; Office of the State Fire Marshal; Office of Planning and Sustainable Development; Public Utilities Commission; The Nature Conservancy - Hawaiʻi and Palmyra; Kamehameha Schools; Hawaiian Electric; Land Use Research Foundation of Hawaiʻi; and one individual. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources.

Your Committee recognizes the increasing threat of wildfires to the State's communities, natural resources, and economy and firmly believes that this growing challenge must be proactively addressed through a comprehensive and collaborative approach. Your Committee finds that a working group composed of government agencies, fire safety experts, economists, legal experts, industry leaders, large landowners, and stakeholders is required to find solutions that address the State's wildfire preparedness and mitigation challenges and strengthen the State's wildfire preparedness and mitigation practices.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Requiring the Working Group to identify clear deliverables to consider needed wildfire mitigation measures, such as regulations identifying the vegetation-management obligations of public and private landowners as well as a practical vegetation management program for landowners and public utilities;

(2) Requiring the Working Group, in undertaking its work, to be explicitly aligned with the State's ongoing Wildfire Action Strategy, which is being developed under the Department of the Attorney General by the Hawaii Wildfire Management Organization and is based on the Fire Safety Research Institute's findings;

(3) Adding the Insurance Commissioner, or the Commissioner's designee, as a member of the Working Group;

(4) Adding a representative of an electric utility, to be invited by the State Fire Marshal, as a member of the Working Group;

(5) Changing its effective date to July 1, 3000, to encourage further discussion; and

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

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Water & Land that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 17, S.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 17, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Finance.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Water & Land,

____________________________

MARK J. HASHEM, Chair