STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3065

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2002

S.D. 2

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Judiciary and Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 2002, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO WATER,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Allow the Commission on Water Resource Management (CWRM) to retain independent counsel;

(2) Repeal the First Deputy to the Chairperson of CWRM and establish the Executive Director of the CWRM;

(3) Administratively attach CWRM to the Department of Land and Natural Resources;

(4) Authorize members of CWRM to be eligible to serve as chairperson;

(5) Require the Chairperson of the Board of Land and Natural Resources and Director of Health to serve as ex officio voting members who are ineligible to serve as chairperson;

(6) Add one member to the nominating committee for CWRM, to be appointed by the Chief Executive Officer of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs;

(7) Authorize entities to whom an emergency order is directed to challenge the order under certain conditions;

(8) Clarify the notification requirements and contents of declarations of water shortages;

(9) Establish fines; and

    (10) Make conforming amendments.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Honolulu Board of Water Supply, Free Access Coalition, Shimanchu Wai Protectors, Kuaʻāina Ulu ʻAuamo, Kupuna for the Moʻopuna, Nā Alakaʻi o ka ʻAhahui o Hawaiʻi, Earthjustice, Our Hawaiʻi, Hanalei Watershed Hui, Hui o Nā Wai ʻEhā, Environmental Caucus of the Democratic Party of Hawaiʻi, Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi, Haiku Community Association, Hawaii Reef and Ocean Coalition, and sixty-one individuals.

Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of the Attorney General.

Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources and Office of the Mayor of the County of Maui.

Your Committees find that effective and efficient water resource management requires consistent, experienced, and independent leadership. However, basic governance and administrative structures of the Commission on Water Resource Management (Commission) do not adequately protect or ensure the Commission's independence. Consequently, the Commission is subject to external political influences that prevent it from performing its critical function of comprehensive water planning and management. This measure will ensure the independence of the Commission to restore public trust in the Commission and allow it to more effectively and efficiently protect and preserve the State's water supplies.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Inserting an effective date of March 22, 2075, to encourage further discussion; and

(2) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Judiciary and Ways and Means that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2002, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2002, S.D. 2.

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

________________________________ DONOVAN M. DELA CRUZ, Chair

________________________________ KARL RHOADS, Chair