STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2662

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 3201

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. 3201 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CORAL REEF RESILIENCE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Require the Division of Aquatic Resources of the Department of Land and Natural Resources to:

(A) Manage and administer aquatic life and resources, with the highest priority being to protect, restore, and maintain ecosystem integrity, using the best scientific data available;

(B) Restore and maintain reef ecosystems and indigenous species to a level that is not less than eighty percent of their natural biomass potential; and

(C) Expand and maintain live coral cover at not less than twenty-five percent on reefs that have historically supported naturally occurring live coral cover;

(2) Require the Division of Aquatic Resources to develop plans and take actions to increase reef resilience around the island of Oahu by certain dates; and

(3) Require annual reports to the Legislature.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaiʻi Reef and Ocean Coalition, Friends of Hanauma Bay, For the Fishes, and five individuals.

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

Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources; Pono Advocacy; and The Nature Conservancy, Hawaiʻi and Palmyra.

Your Committee finds that coral reef ecosystems statewide, but particularly around Oahu, have experienced substantial decline and face catastrophic failure in the years and decades to come unless the State intervenes and makes significant changes to coral reef management. Your Committee recognizes that threats to ecosystem health vary by location, and identifying the most effective management actions requires a careful understanding of local ecosystem drivers and dynamics. Developing island-scale reef management actions will require integrating western scientific approaches, local ecological knowledge, department and agency standards, and commercial operations. Therefore, this measure will develop a framework to protect, restore, and increase coral reef resilience around Oahu.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Clarifying that the deadlines described in section 5 of this measure are for the development of actionable plans with goals to increase the amount of live coral cover, density of herbivorous fish inhabiting reefs, and all other indigenous species not otherwise specified, rather than for the achievement of the goals;

(2) Changing the percentages of the potential biomass of the respective moku for herbivorous fish inhabiting reefs and all other indigenous species not otherwise specified to unspecified amounts;

(3) Amending section 1 to reflect its amended purpose;

(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.

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. 3201, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 3201, 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