STAND. COM. REP. NO. 194

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2005

RE: H.B. No. 1640

H.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2005

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Water, Land, & Ocean Resources and Agriculture, to which was referred H.B. No. 1640 entitled:

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

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to conserve and protect agricultural land, as mandated under Article XI, section 3, of the State Constitution, by:

(1) Establishing a new part in the Land Use Commission law that sets forth policies and procedures for important agricultural lands (IALs), including:

(A) Policies that promote the long-term viability of agricultural use on IALs;

(B) Standards and criteria for the identification of IALs;

(C) A process for the identification of IALs, including mapping by the counties and designation of IALs by the Land Use Commission;

(D) Standards and criteria for the reclassification or rezoning of IALs; and

(E) Incentive policies for IALs to achieve long-term agricultural viability and use of the lands;

(2) Requiring agricultural incentive programs to be developed concurrently with the process of identifying IALs specified in paragraph (1);

(3) Establishing that the designation of IALs and adoption of maps by the Land Use Commission shall take effect only upon the enactment of legislation containing incentives and protections for IALs;

(4) Providing for a process to develop proposals for state and county incentives;

(5) Appropriating $100,000 for the development of proposals for incentives and other programs for agricultural development and land protection;

(6) Conforming various land use provisions under the Land Use Commission law, including district boundary amendments, special permits, and Land Use Commission decision-making criteria, to the policies, processes, procedures, and standards established for IALs in this bill; and

(7) Establishing an Agricultural Infrastructure Improvement Tax Credit (Tax Credit) for improvements made to agricultural infrastructure on IALs.

Hiroshi Eurasion Tapas supported this bill. The Department of Land and Natural Resources and Department of Agriculture supported the intent of this measure. A concerned citizen opposed this measure. The Department of Planning and Permitting of the City and County of Honolulu and Sierra Club, Hawaii Chapter, offered comments.

Your Committees recognize that the designation and identification of IALs are important in fulfilling the constitutional mandate to protect and conserve agricultural land. However, your Committees note that several concerns were raised during the public hearing regarding the policies, procedures, and other requirements specified in this bill. In addition, your Committees believe that the provision of incentives for agricultural development on agricultural land should be established before the time-consuming and exhaustive task of mapping, designating, and identifying IALs is begun.

Therefore, your Committees have amended this measure by retaining the Tax Credit and deleting the rest of its contents. In addition, your Committees have made technical, nonsubstantive amendments for style, clarity, and consistency.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Water, Land, & Ocean Resources and Agriculture that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1640, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1640, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Economic Development & Business Concerns.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Water, Land, & Ocean Resources and Agriculture,

 

____________________________

FELIPE P. ABINSAY, JR., Chair

____________________________

EZRA R. KANOHO, Chair