STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2915

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 3102

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 Commerce and Consumer Protection, to which was referred S.B. No. 3102, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PORT PILOTAGE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to clarify the consulting role and responsibilities of the Department of Transportation in the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs' development and implementation of port pilot licensure standards, requirements, and criteria.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs; Department of Transportation; Matson Navigation Company, Inc.; Hawaiʻi Harbors Users Group; The Maritime Group; Hawaii Stevedores, Inc.; Pasha Hawaii; Hawaii Pilots Association; and Hawaii Ports Maritime Council.

Your Committee finds that commercial harbors, where an estimated ninety percent of imported goods enter the State, play a critical role in the State's economy. Your Committee further finds that harbor pilots are essential to ensure the safe and efficient operation of the State's commercial harbors. This measure would facilitate collaboration between the Department of Transportation, which manages harbors in the State, and the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, which has authority to grant port pilotage licenses, to ensure ongoing safe pilotage in the State's commercial harbors.

Your Committee acknowledges the concerns raised by multiple testifiers that there has been no vessel traffic in Port Allen requiring a licensed harbor pilot for thirty years and there is none anticipated for the foreseeable future.

Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Repealing existing statutory language to remove Port Allen from the list of designated pilotage waters in the State;

(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.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 3102, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 3102, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection,

________________________________

JARRETT KEOHOKALOLE, Chair