STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1191-26

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2026

RE: H.B. No. 1823

H.D. 2

Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

Madame:

Your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 1823, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE COASTAL ZONE MANAGEMENT ACT,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to:

(1) Clarify that certain activities are excluded from the definition of "development" and are not subject to special management area use permit applications; and

(2) Exempt from special management area use permit requirements certain federal-, state-, or county-funded, authorized, or implemented infrastructure and improvement projects that are exempt from an environmental assessment or for which a funding of no significant impact has been issued.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of the Mayor of the County of Maui; two members of the Maui County Council; Planning Department of the County of Hawaiʻi; Department of Design and Construction of the City and County of Honolulu; Grassroot Institute of Hawaii; and Hawaiʻi Food+ Policy. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from one member of the Maui County Council; Hawaiʻi Reef and Ocean Coalition; Environmental Caucus of the Democratic Party of Hawaiʻi; Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi; Kūpuna for the Moʻopuna; Free Access Coalition; Shimanchu Mamuyaa; Hawaii's Thousand Friends; Hanalei Watershed Hui; Kauai Climate Action; Surfrider Foundation Hawaiʻi Region; Green Party of Hawaiʻi; Earthjustice; and numerous individuals. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Office of Planning and Sustainable Development.

Your Committee finds that streamlining the delivery of essential public infrastructure through a targeted exemption for certain development activities and federal-, state-, or county-funded infrastructure improvement projects from special management area permit requirements will accelerate the delivery of these critical activities and projects and lower their associated cost.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Reinstating the existing definition of "development", except for what the term excludes;

(2) Clarifying that certain activities should be exempt from special management area use permit requirements, rather than requiring those activities to be exempt; and

(3) 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 Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1823, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1823, H.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs,

____________________________

DAVID A. TARNAS, Chair