STAND. COM. REP. NO. 972-26

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2026

RE: H.B. No. 2490

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. 2490, H.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO COASTAL RESILIENCE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to:

(1) Establish a five-year Coastal Resilience Pilot Program within the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism for the preservation of Mantokuji Bay, Paia, Maui;

(2) Allow the Pilot Program to be exempt from certain regulatory requirements; and

(3) Require the State Historic Preservation Division to conduct a streamlined historic preservation review; and

(4) Establish certain procedures for the discovery of Native Hawaiians skeletal remains discovered during activities conducted under the Pilot Program.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of the Mayor of the County of Maui; Oceanit Laboratories, Inc.; Paia Mantokuji Soto Zen Mission; and one individual. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the League of Women Voters of Hawaii. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources; Office of Hawaiian Affairs; and Maui Nui Resiliency Hui.

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. 2490, H.D. 2, and recommends that it pass Third Reading.

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

____________________________

CHRIS TODD, Chair