STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1077-26

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2026

RE: H.B. No. 2218

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 Finance, to which was referred H.B. No. 2218, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE DEPARTMENT OF LAND AND NATURAL RESOURCES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to:

(1) Authorize the Department of Land and Natural Resources to enter into community co-management agreements and the disposition of public lands by a community co-management agreement; and

(2) Establish qualifications for eligible community co-managers.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs; Department of Land and Natural Resources; Office of the Mayor, County of Kauaʻi; Office of Economic Development, County of Kauaʻi; one member of the Kauaʻi County Council; Maui Ocean Marine Institute; Hawaiʻi Alliance of Nonprofit Organizations; Hawaiʻi Farmers Union United; Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi; Malama Kauaʻi; Kuaʻāina Ulu ʻAuamo; Agriculture Stewardship Hawaiʻi; Hawaiʻi Community Foundation; Hawaiʻi Ocean Legislative Task Force; Hawaiʻi Conservation Alliance Foundation; Hawaiʻi Alliance for Community-Based Economic Development; Hui Makaʻāinana O Makana; The Nature Conservancy Hawaiʻi and Palmyra; Mālama Pūpūkea-Waimea; Hoʻāla Kealakekua Nui, Inc.; Hawaiʻi Alliance for Progressive Action; and numerous individuals.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Mentioning the community of Kealakekua in the preamble; and

(2) Making other 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 Finance that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2218, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2218, H.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Finance,

____________________________

CHRIS TODD, Chair