STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2677

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2413

S.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2006

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Housing, to which was referred S.B. No. 2413 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PERMIT APPROVALS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to repeal current statutory provisions allowing automatic approval of applications for business- or development-related permits, licenses, and approvals when an agency fails to grant or deny the application within the established maximum period of time.

Testimony in support of the measure was submitted by the Sierra Club Hawaii Chapter, Conservation Council for Hawaii, Hawaii's Thousand Friends, and two individuals. The Department of Land and Natural Resources, General Contractors Association of Hawaii, Land Use Research Foundation of Hawaii, Hawaii Reserves, Inc., the Hawaii Association of Realtors, and the National Federation of Independent Businesses in Hawaii opposed the measure.

Your Committee finds that automatic permit approval is controversial. It has been criticized as poor policy and praised as ensuring timely processing of applications. Your Committee finds that the issues raised by this measure deserve further discussion. Accordingly, your Committee has amended the effective date of the measure to read July 1, 2050.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Housing that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2413, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2413, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Housing,

____________________________

RON MENOR, Chair