STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2684

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 2334

       S.D. 2

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2018

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 2334, S.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PLANNING,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to require that certain state and county plans account for climate change.

    

Specially, this measure requires the:

 

(1)  State and counties to consider hazards caused by climate change, including the findings of the Hawaii Sea Level Rise Vulnerability and Adaptation Report, in their multi-hazard mitigation plans;

 

(2)  State and counties to develop and establish comprehensive frameworks in pre-disaster planning and post-disaster recovery that address adaptation strategies to sea level rise;

 

(3)  State and counties to include modeling that anticipates sea level rise and floodplains in terms of a hundred-year coastal flood benchmark in floodplain mapping; and

 

(4)  Counties to participate in the community rating system developed by the national flood insurance program.

 

     Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the Office of Planning; the Office of Hawaiian Affairs; the University of Hawaii; the Sierra Club of Hawaii; OCC Legislative Priorities; the City and County of Honolulu Office of Climate Change, Sustainability and Resiliency; Coastal Planners, LLC; and four individuals.

 

     Your Committee finds that recent studies predict that sea levels will rise by 3.2 feet as early as the year 2060 and will continue to rise for centuries.  Requiring the State and counties to incorporate higher sea levels and climate change hazards in plans will help to reduce property damage caused by climate change and promote the efficient use of resources when rebuilding areas damaged by natural disasters.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

(1)  Requiring the State and counties to include state functional plans, county general plans, and community development plans in pre-disaster planning and post-disaster recovery strategies that address sea level rise adaptation strategies;

 

(2)  Requiring that floodplain mapping incorporate information from the Hawaii Sea Level Rise Vulnerability and Adaptation Report; and

 

(3)  Making technical nonsubstantive amendments for purposes of style, clarity, and consistency.

 

     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 S.B. No. 2334, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2334, S.D. 2.

 


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

 

 

 

________________________________

DONOVAN M. DELA CRUZ, Chair