STAND. COM. REP. NO 252

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                

 

RE:    S.B. No. 525

       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 Water and Land, to which was referred S.B. No. 525 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE COMMISSION ON WATER RESOURCE MANAGEMENT,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to require the Commission on Water Resource Management to consist of at least one member representing each county who is a resident of that county.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Hunting Association; The Society for Hawaii Heritage Animals; Kona-Kohala Chamber of Commerce; and three individuals.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources and one individual.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.

 

     Your Committee notes that the Department of Land and Natural Resources testimony in opposition was based on the concern that the requirement concerning geographical representation in this measure would come at the expense of the requirement that all Commissioners have substantial experience in water management.  The Department of Land and Natural Resources' representative at the hearing, who has been employed by the Commission on Water Resource Management since 1989, acknowledged that a number of Commissioners have lived on the neighbor islands and served with distinction.

 

     Your Committee agrees that it is critical for members of the Commission on Water Resource Management to have substantial experience in the area of water resource management, but felt that it is possible to find such members on each of the various islands of the State.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Requiring the Commission on Water Resource Management to consist of at least one member representing each county who is a resident of that county and who also has substantial experience in the area of water resource management;

 

     (2)  Clarifying that geographic appointments to the Commission on Water Resource Management shall be phased in as vacancies occur; and

 

     (3)  Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Water and Land that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 525, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 525, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Water and Land,

 

 

 

____________________________

LAURA H. THIELEN, Chair