STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1281

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2005

RE: H.B. No. 1640

H.D. 3

S.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2005

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Water, Land, and Agriculture, to which was referred H.B. No. 1640, H.D. 3, entitled:

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

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to establish policies and procedures for identifying important agricultural lands (IALs) and for developing state and county incentives to promote IAL viability.

The Department of Agriculture, the Office of Planning, the Big Island Farm Bureau, the Hawaii Agriculture Research Center, the Hawaii Aquaculture Association, the Hawaii Association of Realtors, the Hawaii Crop Improvement Association, the Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation, the Land Use Research Foundation, Life of the Land, the Maui County Farm Bureau, the Sierra Club, and one individual submitted testimony in support of this measure. The Department of Taxation, the City and County of Honolulu Department of Planning and Permitting, Hawaii's Thousand Friends, Kamehameha Schools, the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation, Protect Keopuka Ohana, and one individual submitted testimony in opposition to this measure. The Department of Land and Natural Resources and the Land Use Commission (Commission) submitted comments on this measure.

This measure establishes:

(1) A new part in chapter 205, Hawaii Revised Statutes, that sets forth policies and procedures for the identification of IALs, including:

(a) Policies and objectives to assure the conservation and availability of IALs for long-term agricultural use;

(b) Standards and criteria for the identification of IALs;

(c) Procedures for the identification, designation, and retention of IALs;

(d) Standards and criteria for reclassification and rezoning of lands identified as IALs; and

(e) Policies for incentives for the long-term retention of IALs to be used for agriculture;

(2) Tax credits for improvements made to agricultural infrastructures on IALs; and

(3) A process to develop proposals for state and county incentives to promote agricultural viability, sustained growth of the agriculture industry, and the long-term use and protection of IALs for agricultural use.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Clarifying that IALs are buffers from urban or incompatible uses, and that they minimize nuisance conflicts that could impair agricultural activities;

(2) Amending the standards and criterias for IALs to clarify that IAL lands will provide a margin for future agricultural needs and opportunities;

(3) Providing that incentive and protection programs will include agricultural marketing, tax credits for improvements made to agricultural infrastructures on IALs, and agricultural education and training programs;

(4) Clarifying that representations or position statements of landowners whose lands are subject to the potential designation of their land will be submitted to the county councils for consideration in their final recommendations;

(5) Providing that the degree to which the affected landowners agree with the potential designation of their lands will also be considered when state agencies and the Commission review the county report and recommendations;

(6) Clarifying that after receiving maps of eligible IALs from the counties and the recommendations from the state agencies, the Commission will proceed to identify and designate IALs;

(7) Providing that the Commission will also consider landowner petitions and the landowner's position statements and representations in its decision for designating lands as IALs;

(8) Providing that the Commission may give priority to landowner petitions seeking an IALs designation;

(9) Requiring that any decision designating lands as an IAL and the adoption of maps of those lands will be contingent on having at least one public hearing in the county where the land is located;

(10) Deleting the requirement that any decision designating lands as an IAL and the adoption of maps for those lands will be permitted without a petition from the owner for the designation, unless the Commission determines that the designation is necessary to meet the objectives, policies, standards, and criteria for IALs;

(11) Clarifying that the standards and criteria for IAL reclassification or rezoning decisions will have no significant impact on the viability of existing and potential agricultural operations on adjacent agricultural lands;

(12) Providing that exemptions from county subdivision ordinances for IAL leasehold subdivisions will not include ordinances that protect public health and safety;

(13) Clarifying that in the Commission's periodic land reviews, IALs without sufficient water supplies, due to governmental actions or acts of God, will be given priority for removal from IAL designation;

(14) Deleting the provision that allows IAL designations to be removed from lands without sufficient water supplies due to causes beyond the landowner's reasonable control;

(15) Deleting the tax credits for agricultural infrastructure improvements on IALs;

(16) Clarifying that copies of the special permit petition will be forwarded to the Commission, the Office of Planning, and the Department of Agriculture for their review and comment;

(17) Inserting an appropriation amount of $400,000 for $100,000 grants-in-aid to each county to identify IALs;

(18) Clarifying that IALs will not be designated until the incentive and protection legislation for IALs is enacted with either a declaration of satisfaction within the Act or within a subsequent concurrent resolution;

(19) Deleting the requirement that the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Taxation, stakeholders, and experts need to jointly establish a minimum criteria for determining when the enactment of legislation establishing incentives and protections has occurred;

(20) Clarifying that the Department of Agriculture will submit its final findings and recommendations and proposed legislation to the Legislature no later than twenty days before the convening of the regular session of 2007;

(21) Inserting an appropriation amount of $100,000 for the development of proposals for incentives and other programs for agricultural development and agricultural land protection; provided that any unexpended or unencumbered funds at the close of fiscal year 2005-2006 may be expended in the following fiscal year and will not lapse until June 30, 2007;

(22) Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2005; and

(23) Making technical, nonsubstantive changes for style, clarity, and consistency.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Water, Land, and Agriculture that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1640, H.D. 3, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1640, H.D. 3, 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, Land, and Agriculture,

____________________________

RUSSELL S. KOKUBUN, Chair