STAND. COM. REP. NO. 456-26

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2026

RE: H.B. No. 1844

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 H.B. No. 1844 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE LAND USE COMMISSION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to require the Land Use Commission, at the request of a county, to reclassify lands that are designated for urban growth under a county general plan or county development plan as being in the urban district.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii and one individual. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Moanalua Gardens Foundation; Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi; Green Party of Hawaiʻi; Hawaiʻi Alliance for Progressive Action; Free Access Coalition; Kauai Climate Action Coalition; and numerous individuals. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of the Attorney General and Hawaiʻi Farm Bureau.

Your Committee finds that the time and cost required to construct new housing can be substantially increased by multiple layers of bureaucratic approvals. Your Committee further finds that this measure adopts a tailored approach that would maintain protections for Hawaii's rural and agricultural areas by specifying that the proposed process would apply only to lands that counties have already identified for future urban development.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Requiring a county to also meet all other applicable requirements before submitting its land-reclassification request;

(2) Allowing county agencies to submit certain supplemental materials to their requests to the Land Use Commission, and requiring the Commission to consider these materials in determining whether to approve, deny, or modify the request;

(3) Not requiring the Land Use Commission to take action on a county's land-reclassification request within ninety days of receipt of the request;

(4) Clarifying that this measure does not apply to Important Agricultural Lands;

(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 H.B. No. 1844, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1844, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs.

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

____________________________

MARK J. HASHEM, Chair