STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1343-26

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2026

RE: S.B. No. 2401

S.D. 1

H.D. 1

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 S.B. No. 2401, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO REGIONAL SHORELINE MITIGATION DISTRICTS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to establish a statewide adaptation pathways planning framework under chapter 225M, Hawaii Revised Statutes, by creating regional shoreline mitigation districts that can work together to develop adaptation pathways plans.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources; Hawaiʻi Association of REALTORS; Surfrider Foundation, Hawaiʻi Region; Valley Isle Resort AOAO; Hololani AOAO; Shoreline Preservation Coalition; Kahana Bay Steering Committee; Royal Kahana AOAO; and numerous individuals. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs; Department of the Attorney General; Office of Planning and Sustainable Development; and Office of Climate Change, Sustainability, and Resiliency of the City and County of Honolulu.

Your Committee finds that accelerating shoreline erosion, wave impacts, and coastal hazards are threatening public beaches, shoreline properties, and infrastructure across the State. Your Committee further finds that a statewide framework is needed to support the development and adoption of short- and long-term shoreline management plans and the use of collective financing mechanisms for regional shoreline management property acquisition and projects. Your Committee also finds that adaptation pathways planning to address sea level rise and preserve the State's beaches provides a mechanism to propose both short- and long-term solutions, including beach management and erosion mitigation; retreat from the coastline; and time for planning and implementation of these solutions.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Using the term "regional shoreline mitigation district" throughout the measure;

(2) Removing as an element and criterion of a shoreline adaptation pathways plan, an analysis of financing options for property owners;

(3) Adding as an element and criterion of a shoreline adaptation pathways plan, the identification and coordination among the State, counties, and affected shoreline property owners to address ownership, maintenance, and other jurisdictional issues necessary to implement shoreline adaptation pathways within the regional shoreline mitigation district;

(4) Requiring any shoreline adaptation pathway identified or proposed in the shoreline adaptation pathways plan to prioritize the preservation of shoreline properties, along with public beaches;

(5) Where a conservation district use permit application involves shoreline adaptation pathways within a designated regional shoreline mitigation district, requiring the applicant to submit a shoreline adaptation pathways plan to the Board of Land and Natural Resources as part of the application;

(6) Allowing the Board of Land and Natural Resources to approve shoreline adaptation pathways consistent with the shoreline adaptation pathways plan;

(7) Allowing the Board of Land and Natural Resources to authorize a permit for temporary shoreline hardening structures when an imminently dangerous shoreline condition affecting a structure has extended beyond the period authorized under an emergency permit and requiring the applicant to demonstrate a concerted effort to develop or implement a long-term shoreline adaptation solution that will allow the temporary erosion control measures to be removed;

(8) Amending the objectives and policies of the Coastal Zone Management Program pertaining to beach protection, which prohibit construction of private shoreline hardening structures at sites having sand beaches and at sites where shoreline hardening structures interfere with existing recreational and waterline activities, to allow the counties to approve temporary shoreline hardening structures where an imminently dangerous shoreline condition has extended beyond an emergency authorization;

(9) Changing its effective date to July 1, 3000, to encourage further discussion; and

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

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Water & Land that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2401, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2401, S.D. 1, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Finance.

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

____________________________

MARK J. HASHEM, Chair