STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3010

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                   

 

RE:     S.B. No. 2240

        S.D. 2

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred S.B. No. 2240, S.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO LAND USE,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to require any petitioner for a district boundary amendment to obtain a written statement from the Commission on Water Resources Management on water availability in the hydrologic unit or units where the parcel is located and provide that certification to the Land Use Commission.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources, Office of Planning and Sustainable Development, Land Use Commission, Hawaiʻi Food+ Policy, and one individual.

 

     Your Committee finds that aquifers and groundwater in the State are extremely vulnerable to depletion, mismanagement, and contamination.  Your Committee further finds that additional coordination between the Commission on Water Resource Management and the Land Use Commission is necessary for successful projects that involve water use.  Therefore, this measure will modernize petition standards and ensure that water availability information is clearly incorporated into decision-making for district boundary amendments.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2240, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2240, S.D. 2.

 

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

 

 

 

________________________________

KARL RHOADS, Chair