STAND. COM. REP. NO.  1159-12

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2012

 

RE:   S.B. No. 2378

      S.D. 1

 

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2012

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Water, Land, & Ocean Resources, to which was referred S.B. No. 2378, S.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO LEGACY LANDS,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure is to focus conservation efforts under the legacy lands program.  Specifically, this measure:

 

     (1)  Requires nonprofit land conservation organizations to provide a conservation easement, deed restriction, or covenant as a condition of public funding;

 

     (2)  Requires, as a condition of public funding, that the Board of Land and Natural Resources be made a full or partial owner of any conservation land provided by a state or county agency or nonprofit land conservation organization;

 

     (3)  Allows the Board of Land and Natural Resources to grant exemptions from the easement requirements; and

 

     (4)  Requires applicants to demonstrate the project's public benefit and to consult with the staff of the Department of Land and Natural Resources, Department of Agriculture, the Agribusiness Development Corporation, and the Public Land Development Corporation.

 

     The Department of Land and Natural Resources supported this measure.  The Agribusiness Development Corporation supported the intent of this measure.  The Office of Hawaiian Affairs, The Trust for Public Land, and The Nature Conservancy of Hawaii commented on this measure.

 

     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. 2378, S.D. 1, 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,

 

 

 

 

____________________________

JERRY L. CHANG, Chair