STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1143

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2005

RE: S.B. No. 212

S.D. 2

H.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2005

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Water, Land, & Ocean Resources, to which was referred S.B. No. 212, S.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ENVIRONMENT,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to appropriate funds to the Commission on Water Resource Management (Commission) to hire:

(1) A Hydrologist IV to assist the Instream Use Protection Section in establishing the necessary instream flow standards; and

(2) A Geologist I in the Survey Branch.

The Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation, Hanalei Watershed Hui, Earthjustice, and Sierra Club, Hawaii Chapter, testified in support of this bill. The Department of Land and Natural Resources supported the intent of this measure with budgetary concerns.

Your Committee finds that adequate funding and staffing are indispensable to enable the Commission to complete the Hawaii Water Plan that is they key planning tool mandated by the Water Code. Accordingly, your Committee has amended this bill by:

(1) Making an appropriation to the Commission for data collection, monitoring, planning, and water management needs mandated under chapter 174C, Hawaii Revised Statutes, particularly the Hawaii Water Plan;

(2) Specifically providing that the appropriation in this bill shall not reduce existing funding for the Commission;

(3) Changing the effective date to July 1, 2006; and

(4) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for clarity and style.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Water, Land, & Ocean Resources that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 212, S.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 212, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Finance.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Water, Land, & Ocean Resources,

 

____________________________

EZRA R. KANOHO, Chair