STAND. COM. REP. NO. 462

                                 Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                   , 1999

                                 RE: H.B. No. 179
                                     H.D. 1




Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say
Speaker, House of Representatives
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 1999
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committees on Water and Land Use and Agriculture, to
which was referred H.B. No. 179 entitled: 

     "A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO AGRICULTURAL LANDS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to protect agricultural lands by
establishing a commission to update and re-evaluate the findings
of the 1986 report of the Land Evaluation and Site Assessment
(LESA) Commission.

     The 1983 Legislature had established the LESA Commission to
identify important agricultural lands (IAL) that the Legislature
should set aside according to a classification system developed
by the LESA Commission.  As a result, in 1986, the LESA
Commission submitted findings and recommendations concerning:

     (1)  The development of the initial inventory of the State's
          IAL;

     (2)  A classification system to identify these lands; and

     (3)  A process to review requests for a change in
          designation of specific parcels from IAL to urban or to
          other uses.

     Since the completion of this report, the profile of Hawaii's
agricultural lands has changed dramatically due to the shift from
a plantation-type system to the focus on small scale and

 
 
                                 STAND. COM. REP. NO. 462
                                 Page 2

 
diversified agriculture.  In light of these changes, it is timely
to update the 1986 LESA report.

     This bill would establish a new LESA Commission (Commission)
headed by the chairperson of the Board of Agriculture that would:

     (1)  Re-evaluate, re-assess, and update the 1986 LESA
          report;

     (2)  Recommend incentives for landowners to keep their lands
          in agricultural production; and

     (3)  Examine the feasibility of a two-tier land evaluation
          system in which land currently being cultivated would
          be held to a lower criteria standard and land not being
          cultivated would be held to a higher criteria standard.

     The following agencies and organizations testified in
support of this measure: the Department of Land and Natural
Resources; the Land Use Commission; the University of Hawaii's
College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources; the County
of Hawaii Planning Department and Department of Research and
Development; the Land Use Research Foundation of Hawaii; Hawaii
Business Roundtable; the Hawaii Chapter of the American Planning
Association; the Hawaii Farm Bureau; and the Estate of James
Campbell.  The Department of Agriculture, the Office of Planning,
and the Hawaii Association of Realtors supported the intent of
this bill.  The Sierra Club, Hawaii Chapter, Hawaii's Thousand
Friends, and an individual testified in opposition.

     To narrow the focus of this undertaking and to expedite the
completion of the report, your Committees have:

     (1)  Directed the Commission to utilize the standards and
          criteria in the Agricultural Lands of Importance to the
          State of Hawaii (ALISH) classification system to
          identify prime agricultural lands, unique agricultural
          lands, and other important agricultural lands; and

     (2)  Deleted the requirements for the Commission to:

          (a)  Re-evaluate, re-assess, and update the 1986 LESA
               report; and

          (b)  Examine the concept of a two-tier land evaluation
               system.

     Your Committees have further amended this bill by:


 
                                 STAND. COM. REP. NO. 462
                                 Page 3

 
     (1)  Deleting the requirement for the Commission to
          recommend goals relating to agricultural production;

     (2)  Re-naming the Commission as the State of Hawaii
          Important Agricultural Lands Commission;

     (3)  Specifying that funds may be used for the preparation
          of maps and other technical services;

     (4)  Deleting development rights from consideration as one
          of the incentives for landowners to keep their lands in
          agricultural production; and

     (5)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the
          purpose of clarity.

     Finally, your Committees urge the members of the Commission
to:

     (1)  Use the 1986 LESA report as a starting point; and

     (2)  Consider alternative incentives for landowners to keep
          their lands in agricultural use, including tools such
          as development rights.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your
Committees on Water and Land Use and Agriculture that are
attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the
intent and purpose of H.B. No. 179, as amended herein, and
recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto
as H.B. No. 179, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on
Finance.

                                   Respectfully submitted on
                                   behalf of the members of the
                                   Committees on Water and Land
                                   Use and Agriculture,

                                   
                                   
                                   
                                   
______________________________     ______________________________
FELIPE P. ABINSAY, JR., Chair      ROMY M. CACHOLA, Chair