STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3731

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 2395

H.D. 2

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Ways and Means and Judiciary, to which was referred H.B. No. 2395, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE TAKING OF MARINE DEPOSITS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to promote marine scientific research and education in the State.

More specifically, this measure authorizes the Department of Land and Natural Resources to approve permits for research, education, management, or propagation purposes that include the taking of marine deposits seaward of the shoreline, as long as the resources will be returned to the beach if possible and the taking poses no more than a minimal or negligible risk to the environment.

Your Committees received written comments in support of this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources and University of Hawaii Sea Grant Program.

Your Committees find that the Department of Land and Natural Resources regularly receives requests for permits that involve the taking of sand, dead coral, coral rubble, rocks, soil, or other marine deposits from state waters for purposes of research, education, management, or propagation. Your Committees also find that the Department is not authorized to approve these permit requests because section 171-58.5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, does not currently allow for the taking of these resources for those purposes. Your Committees further find that the amendments made by this measure will facilitate the legal conduct of legitimate research projects in the fields of geology, chemistry, biology, and climate science, among others.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Ways and Means and Judiciary that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2395, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, and recommend that it pass Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Ways and Means and Judiciary,

________________________________ KARL RHOADS, Chair

________________________________ DONOVAN M. DELA CRUZ, Chair