STAND. COM. REP. NO.  1415

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2007

 

RE:   S.B. No. 1093

      S.D. 2

 

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2007

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Water, Land, Ocean Resources & Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 1093, S.D. 2, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO OCEAN HEALTH CONSENSUS,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this bill is to build community-based consensus in Hawaii for managing ocean ecosystem resources for the benefit of the Hawaiian Islands, for the marine and coastal communities, and for the health of ocean ecosystems, by funding an Ocean Health Consensus Project (Project).  The Project is to be coordinated by the Center for Conservation Research and Training and consists of:

 

(1)  Convening key stakeholders for ideas on productive problem solving;

 

(2)  Assigning roles and responsibilities to the facilitators;

 

(3)  Facilitating group problem solving by generating mutually advantageous proposals, confronting disagreements in a productive way, using scientifically sound information, and considering a range of possible solutions;

 

(4)  Reaching agreement on the most important interests of all concerned; and

 

(5)  Holding participants to their commitments.

 

     The Nature Conservancy of Hawaii and several concerned individuals testified in support of this bill.  The Department of Land and Natural Resources and John A. Burns School of Medicine of the University of Hawaii at Manoa supported the intent of this measure.  A concerned individual opposed this bill.  The Ocean Tourism Coalition provided comments.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Water, Land, Ocean Resources & Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1093, S.D. 2, and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Finance.

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

____________________________

KEN ITO, Chair