STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1801-26

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2026

RE: H.C.R. No. 136

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.C.R. No. 136 entitled:

"HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION URGING THE COUNTY OF MAUI TO ADOPT ORDINANCES THAT ESTABLISH WILDLAND-URBAN INTERFACE SAFETY STANDARDS FOR PLANTATION TOWNS AND OTHER HIGH-RISK COMMUNITIES, TAKING INTO ACCOUNT THE COUNTY OF KAUAI'S ORDINANCE NO. PM-2025-425, RELATING TO THE PLANTATION CAMP DISTRICT WILDFIRE AND WILDLAND URBAN INTERFACE, AND OTHER STATE AND NATIONAL WILDLAND-URBAN INTERFACE BEST PRACTICES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to urge the County of Maui to adopt ordinances that establish wildland-urban interface safety standards for plantation towns and other high‑risk communities, taking into account the County of Kauai's Ordinance No. PM-2025-425, relating to the Plantation Camp District Wildfire and Wildland Urban Interface, and other state and national wildland-urban interface best practices.

Your Committee did not receive any written testimony on this measure.

Your Committee finds that the August 2023 Maui wildfires demonstrated with tragic clarity that the County of Maui faces not only a wildland fire threat but also the threat of wildfire-driven urban conflagration, as fire moved from surrounding wildland areas into residential neighborhoods and rapidly transformed into a destructive urban firestorm. Your Committee further finds that there is an urgent need to modernize ordinances, codes, and land use practices to reflect the reality that wildfire and urban firestorm development can occur together in Hawaii. Your Committee also finds that the County of Maui's continued wildfire planning efforts would be strengthened by the adoption and enforcement of county ordinances that expressly address plantation-town wildland-urban interface conditions through locally tailored standards for ember-resistant construction, noncombustible zones near structures, defensible space, vegetation management, access and water-supply considerations, and integration of wildfire risk into planning, permitting, and redevelopment decisions.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Water & Land that is attached to this report, your Committee concurs with the intent and purpose of H.C.R. No. 136 and recommends its adoption.

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

____________________________

MARK J. HASHEM, Chair