STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2559

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2310

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 Agriculture and Environment and Water, Land, Culture and the Arts, to which was referred S.B. No. 2310 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO NATURAL RESOURCES,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate funds for the removal of overgrown vegetation from the Kainahola Stream drainageway.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from one individual.

Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity.

Your Committees find that Kainahola Stream, which flows through state property on the Island of Kauai, has overflowed and flooded as a result of overgrown vegetation. After a previous lawsuit over the flooding required the State to remove overgrown vegetation from the Kainahola Stream drainageway, the Legislature appropriated $1,600,000 for its removal. However, these funds were insufficient to complete the removal of overgrown vegetation. Therefore, this measure will complete the Kainahola Stream clean-up process to comply with the court-mandated vegetation maintenance.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Inserting a blank appropriation amount;

(2) Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion; and

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

Your Committees note that this measure, as amended, contains an unspecified appropriation amount. Should your Committee on Ways and Means choose to deliberate on this measure, your Committees respectfully request that it consider inserting an appropriation amount of $500,000.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Agriculture and Environment and Water, Land, Culture and the Arts that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2310, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2310, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Agriculture and Environment and Water, Land, Culture and the Arts,

________________________________ CHRIS LEE, Chair

________________________________ MIKE GABBARD, Chair