STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2250-26

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2026

RE: S.C.R. No. 58

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 Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred S.C.R. No. 58, S.D. 1, H.D. 1, entitled:

"SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION URGING THE DIVISION OF BOATING AND OCEAN RECREATION OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LAND AND NATURAL RESOURCES TO DEVELOP A PROGRESSIVE ENFORCEMENT FRAMEWORK FOR PARKING VIOLATIONS IN PARKING LOTS UNDER ITS JURISDICTION; ENSURE PROPER USE OF PARKING AREAS BY INTENDED USERS; AND IMPROVE THE PREVALENCE AND CLARITY OF SIGNAGE REGARDING PARKING REGULATIONS, FEES, AND PENALTIES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to urge the Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation of the Department of Land and Natural Resources to manage the parking areas under its jurisdiction in an equitable manner that preserves parking availability to the public without harshly penalizing minor infractions. This measure encourages the department to achieve this by:

1. Developing and implementing progressive enforcement frameworks for parking violations, including clear warnings for parking violations before resorting to towing vehicles;

2. Ensuring the appropriate use of parking by intended users;

3. Enforcing penalties against drivers who improperly use free parking; and

4. Making clear and prominent signage regarding parking regulations, fees, and penalties.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from Dragon Boat USA-Oahu, Surf Parking Coalition and sixteen individuals. Your Committee received testimony with comments on this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources. Your Committee received testimony opposing this measure from two individuals.

Your Committee finds that the Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation oversees sixteen small boat harbors and their corresponding parking areas throughout the State, and that enforcement of parking regulations in those areas places a strain on its resources. Your Committee further finds that employing officers from the Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement to administer parking regulations would be inefficient and contrary to the mission of that division. Your Committee also finds that towing, an enforcement mechanism often used by the Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation, may be an excessively harsh penalty for minor parking violations. Your Committee believes that this measure would help to establish an equitable and reasonable progressive enforcement framework that addresses parking violations without imposing overly harsh penalties.

Your Committee encourages the Chairperson of the Board of Land and Natural Resources to additionally consider amending parking-concession contracts, as needed, to establish a citation-based enforcement system by authorizing the parking-management concessionaire to issue parking fines for minor parking violations as part of a progressive enforcement framework, with fines set at affordable amounts consistent with comparable Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement and Honolulu Police Department traffic violation penalties.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee concurs with the intent and purpose of S.C.R. No. 58, S.D. 1, H.D. 1, and recommends that it be referred to your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs,

____________________________

DAVID A. TARNAS, Chair