STAND. COM. REP. NO. 631

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 1171

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2013

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Technology and the Arts, to which was referred S.B. No. 1171 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE REVIEW OF HISTORIC PRESERVATION PROJECTS,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

 

     (1)  Authorize the phased review of projects by the Department of Land and Natural Resources' State Historic Preservation Division (SHPD) to ensure consistency between state and federal law; and

 

     (2)  Delete language that provided the Governor with the option to request the Hawaii Advisory Council on Historic Preservation to report an action to overrule or sustain a department when an agency, officer, or other person is dissatisfied with a decision of the Hawaii Historic Places Review Board.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources; Department of Transportation; Department of Design and Construction, City and County of Honolulu; Townscape, Inc.; and one individual.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Historic Hawaii Foundation, Society for Hawaiian Archaeology, Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs, Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation, and one individual.

 

     Your Committee finds that Hawaii must preserve its historic and cultural heritage through adaptable preservation plans.  The inability to phase review would negatively affect certain projects, particularly complex multi-year, multi-phase projects.  For instance, if the Department of Transportation's projects cannot be phased, it is possible that new highways could not be built or old highways could not be widened.

 

     Your Committee further finds that SHPD rules are silent on phased reviews but state that SHPD must review a project in its entirety.  The Hawaii Supreme Court ruling in Kaleikini v. Yoshioka stated that SHPD improperly allowed for a phased review of the Honolulu Rapid Transit Corridor rail project based on federal regulations allowing for a phased review of linear projects.  This measure gives SHPD greater flexibility to address preservation plans and measures in alignment with federal laws.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Limiting the Department of Land and Natural Resources' authorization for phased review to proposed projects consisting of corridors of large land areas, where access to properties is restricted, or where circumstances dictate that construction be done in stages;

 

     (2)  Inserting and effective date of January 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion; and

 

     (3)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Technology and the Arts that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1171, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1171, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

 


Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Technology and the Arts,

 

 

 

____________________________

GLENN WAKAI, Chair