STAND. COM. REP. NO. 257

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 1143

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2013

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Energy and Environment, to which was referred S.B. No. 1143 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE OFFICE OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY CONTROL,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

 

     (1)  Establish the environmental review special fund;

 

     (2)  Establish fees to enhance the activities of the Office of Environmental Quality Control;

 

     (3)  Authorize the Office to expend monies out of the environmental review special fund;

 

     (4)  Support and maintain technology systems for the Office;

 

     (5)  Support outreach, training, education, and research regarding environmental stewardship; and

 

     (6)  Provide for the hiring of adequate staff for the Office.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Environmental Council; Office of Hawaiian Affairs; and Sierra Club, Hawaii Chapter.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from The Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii and Building Industry Association of Hawaii.

 

Your Committee finds that general fund appropriations have not kept pace with the expanding workload of the Office of Environmental Quality Control, which has resulted in longer wait times for public and private projects.  Operations are further hampered by an outdated information technology infrastructure.

 

     Your Committee further finds that the establishment of fees, rule-making authority, and a special fund will provide a revenue stream that roughly correlates with demand and creates enhanced flexibility to meet evolving needs as sensitivity to environmental impacts grow.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by 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 Energy and Environment that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1143, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1143, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Energy and Environment,

 

 

 

____________________________

MIKE GABBARD, Chair