STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2935

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 3053

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 Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 3053, S.D. 1, 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 moneys for, and require a legislative report regarding, a Comprehensive Watershed-Based Water Quality Monitoring Pilot Program for the Waikele Watershed, including Waikele Stream and the Kapakahi Stream Watershed.

Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the Department of Health and Department of Land and Natural Resources.

Your Committee received written comments in opposition to this measure from one individual.

Your Committee finds that the proposed pilot program will help to improve water quality in the Waikele area through monthly stream monitoring and assessment, watershed monitoring, and the identification of potential pollutants.

Your Committee has amended this measure by re-inserting from the original draft of the measure an appropriation for mangrove removal and other shoreline and stream maintenance in the nineteenth senatorial district and nearby areas, and making the appropriation amount an unspecified sum to facilitate further discussion on the measure.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 3053, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 3053, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

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DONOVAN M. DELA CRUZ, Chair