STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1503

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    H.B. No. 1042

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred H.B. No. 1042, S.D. 1, entitled:

 

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

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to fully implement Act 183, Session Laws of Hawaii 2005, in accordance with the State's constitutional duty to protect important agricultural lands, by providing funds to the counties to identify and map important agricultural lands.

 

     Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the Department of Agriculture, State Land Use Commission, County of Maui, City and County of Honolulu Department of Planning and Permitting, Hawaii Farm Bureau, Hawaii Crop Improvement Association, Hawaii Association of Realtors, and two individuals. 

 

     Your Committee finds that Act 183, Session Laws of Hawaii 2005, codified as part III of chapter 205, Hawaii Revised Statutes, directed each county, within sixty months of receiving state funds for the purpose, to identify and map potential important agricultural lands.  Act 183 also directed each county to make recommendations to the State Land Use Commission as to whether the lands should be designated as important agricultural lands.  Your Committee further finds that, to date, the counties have not been provided with state funds to assist with their identification and mapping duties.  Your Committee believes that the moneys appropriated by this measure will allow Act 183 to be fully implemented. 

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1042, S.D. 1, and recommends that it pass Third Reading.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

 

 

 

________________________________

JILL N. TOKUDA, Chair