STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3546

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.C.R. No. 58

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.C.R. No. 58 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 and intent of this measure is to urge the Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation (DOBOR) to:

(1) Develop and implement a progressive enforcement framework for parking violations in parking lots under DOBOR's jurisdiction, including the provision of clear warnings for parking violations before resorting to towing vehicles that are in violation;

(2) Ensure the appropriate use of parking areas by intended users;

(3) Enforce penalties against drivers who improperly use and abuse free parking; and

(4) Improve the prevalence and clarity of signage regarding parking regulations, fees, and penalties.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Climate Protection and Restoration Initiative, Save Surf Parking Coalition, and twenty individuals.

Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources.

Your Committee finds that DOBOR oversees sixteen small boat harbors across the State in addition to the corresponding parking areas within each small boat harbor, putting strain on the available resources of DOBOR to enforce parking regulations. While employing officers from the Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement (DOCARE) to monitor the parking areas would be inefficient and detrimental to the mission of DOCARE, your Committee believes that towing, an enforcement mechanism often used by DOBOR, is an excessively harsh penalty to inflict on vehicle owners for minor violations of parking regulations. This measure would make progress toward a fairer administration of DOBOR-managed parking areas by improving the accountability and transparency of parking enforcement.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Inserting findings specifying that the Board of Land and Natural Resources has already approved the use of License Plate Recognition (LPR) technology for Ala Wai Small Boat Harbor, and DOBOR is currently implementing a parking monitoring contract with the parking concessionaire to use LPR technology;

(2) Inserting findings specifying that other state agencies, including the Department of Accounting and General Services, have deputized members of their respective staffs to be able to provide vehicular citations in lieu of relying on contracts for towing;

(3) Inserting language encouraging DOBOR to fully implement parking monitoring contracts that include LPR technology for all parking areas under its jurisdiction and to consider deputizing their staff, as appropriate, to issue parking citations as an additional means of enforcing parking violations; and

(4) 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 concurs with the intent and purpose of S.C.R. No. 58, as amended herein, and recommends its adoption in the form attached hereto as S.C.R. No. 58, S.D. 1.

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

________________________________

CHRIS LEE, Chair