STAND. COM. REP. NO. 451-00

                                 Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                   , 2000

                                 RE: H.B. No. 2424
                                     H.D. 1




Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say
Speaker, House of Representatives
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 2000
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committees on Agriculture and Water and Land Use, to
which was referred H.B. No. 2424 entitled: 

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

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to:

     (1)  Establish standards, criteria, and a process for the
          identification of important agricultural lands to the
          State; and

     (2)  Provide a one-time expedited process by which lands of
          low agricultural resource value or those already
          subdivided and developed for nonagricultural uses may
          be reclassified by the Land Use Commission (LUC) to the
          rural district.

     The Office of Planning, the LUC, and the Hawaii Farm Bureau
Federation submitted testimony in support of the bill.  The
Department of Agriculture testified in support of the bill with
the understanding that the reapplication of the Agricultural
Lands of Importance to the State of Hawaii (ALISH) standards and
criteria will consider existing agricultural activities.  The
Estate of James Campbell and Hawaii's Thousand Friends testified
in opposition to this bill.  Comments were submitted by the Land
Use Research Foundation of Hawaii.


 
 
 
                                 STAND. COM. REP. NO. 451-00
                                 Page 2

 
     Your Committees believe that this bill is reflective of the
Committees' intent to move toward fulfilling the State's
obligation to implement the State's constitutional mandate to
protect agricultural lands and promote agricultural development.
While your Committees recognize the merits of the one-time
expedited reclassification process in creating a more viable
rural district and providing greater focus for agriculture and
its programs, your Committees have concerns about automatically
designating certain agricultural lands to the rural district.
Your Committee believes that more discussion is needed on this
aspect of the bill.

     Your Committees have amended this bill by:

     (1)  Repealing the one-time expedited process to the rural
          land use district, for the reclassification of certain
          lands in the agricultural district that are not
          identified as important agricultural lands;

     (2)  Deleting the provision classifying as prime
          agricultural land, only those lands composed
          predominantly of soil survey map units listed as
          meeting the requirements for national prime farmland by
          the United States Department of Agriculture, Natural
          Resources Conservation Service, Honolulu, Hawaii;

     (3)  Requiring that at least one public information meeting
          for the identification of potential lands and the
          development of recommendations for designation, be held
          on each island, rather than in each county;

     (4)  Deleting provisions relating to interim procedures and
          decision making criteria for lands in the agricultural
          district;

     (5)  Making the effective date unspecified to facilitate
          further discussion on the bill; and

     (6)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for
          clarity, consistency, and style.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your
Committees on Agriculture and Water and Land Use that are
attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the
intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2424, as amended herein, and
recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto
as H.B. No. 2424, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on
Finance.


 
                                 STAND. COM. REP. NO. 451-00
                                 Page 3

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

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