STAND. COM. REP. NO. 456-00

                                 Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                   , 2000

                                 RE: H.B. No. 2082
                                     H.D. 1




Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say
Speaker, House of Representatives
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 2000
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Water and Land Use, to which was referred
H.B. No. 2082 entitled: 

     "A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO TORT LIABILITY,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to limit the liability for
government landowners of Haiku Stairs by including the stairway
under the limitations of liability in Chapter 520 (Landowners'
Liability), Hawaii Revised Statutes.

     Located in Windward Oahu, Haiku Stairs or "the Stairway to
Heaven" is a metal stairway consisting of approximately 3,922
steps that ascends from the base of Haiku Valley to a summit on
the Koolau Mountain Range.  Due to neglect and vandalism, Haiku
Stairs has fallen to disrepair.

     This bill provides immunity to a landowner for any injury or
death resulting from a person climbing Haiku Stairs for
recreational purposes if the landowner provides a warning.
According to this bill, any person climbing Haiku Stairs waives
the right to pursue claims against government owners, nonprofit
groups, or individuals associated with Haiku Stairs for injury
that may occur while on the stairway where the activity is not
supervised, guided, or managed by representatives of the
landowners.

     The Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR)
testified in support of this measure.  The Consumer Lawyers of
Hawaii opposed passage of this bill.


 
                                 STAND. COM. REP. NO. 456-00
                                 Page 2

 
     According to the DLNR, Haiku Stairs has the potential to be
one of the most unique and picturesque public recreational
features in the State, thereby providing a valuable economic
asset to Hawaii's nature tourism sector.  At the same time, it
also possesses some inherently dangerous attributes that will
require preventive safety measures to allow for public use.

     Your Committee has amended this bill by replacing the
immunity and waiver provisions with language that includes Haiku
Stairs and its associated access ways under the protection of
Chapter 520.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your
Committee on Water and Land Use that is attached to this report,
your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B.
No. 2082, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second
Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2082, H.D. 1, and
be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs.

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



                                   ______________________________
                                   ROMY M. CACHOLA, Chair