STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2524

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 3053

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Water, Land, Culture and the Arts, to which was referred S.B. No. 3053 entitled:

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

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate funds to the Division of Aquatic Resources of the Department of Land and Natural Resources for mangrove removal and shoreline and stream maintenance in the Nineteenth Senatorial District and nearby areas, including the West Loch and Middle Loch shorelines.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources and one individual.

Your Committee finds that Pearl Harbor is the largest estuary in the State and represents a high-priority aquatic resource that supports native fish, waterbirds, and important cultural and community uses. Unfortunately, the Pearl Harbor estuary continues to experience the introduction of invasive species, pollution, and degradation to its aquatic ecosystems. Your Committee further finds that the Department of Land and Natural Resources has been actively working in West Loch Pearl Harbor since approximately 2018, conducting invasive mangrove removal, native wetland and shoreline restoration, and ongoing water quality and biological monitoring within the Honouliuli, Waikele, and adjacent watershed areas. This measure will help to improve water quality, restore habitat function, and support long-term, place-based watershed stewardship.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Deleting language that would have appropriated funds for the mangrove removal and other shoreline and stream maintenance in the Nineteenth Senatorial District and nearby areas, including the Pearl Harbor shoreline along West Loch and Middle Loch, to be expended by the Division of Aquatic Resources of the Department of Land and Natural Resources;

(2) Inserting language that appropriates funds for the development and implementation of the Comprehensive Watershed-based Water Quality Monitoring Pilot Program for the Waikele Watershed, including Waikele Stream and Kapakahi Stream Watershed, to be expended by the Department of Health;

(3) Changing the appropriation amount from $800,000 to an unspecified amount;

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

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

Your Committee notes that although this measure, as amended, contains an unspecified appropriation amount, should your Committee on Ways and Means choose to deliberate on this measure, your Committee respectfully requests that it considers inserting an appropriation amount of $230,000 for the development and implementation of the Comprehensive Watershed-based Water Quality Monitoring Pilot Program for the Waikele Watershed, including Waikele Stream and Kapakahi Stream Watershed.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Water, Land, Culture and the Arts that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 3053, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 3053, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Water, Land, Culture and the Arts,

________________________________

CHRIS LEE, Chair