STAND. COM. REP. NO 346

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                

 

RE:    S.B. No. 1173

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committees on Water and Land and Tourism and International Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 1173 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE ACQUISITION OF SCENIC LANDS AT KAPUA IN MILOLI‘I ON THE ISLAND OF HAWAII,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to require the Department of Land and Natural Resources to engage in negotiations to acquire certain lands of Kapua with excess revenues derived from the transient accommodations tax.

 

     Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources, Department of Budget and Finance, Tax Foundation of Hawaii, and State-County Functions Working Group.

 

     Your Committees find that the lands of Kapua in Milolii on the island of Hawaii are a scenic wonder with breathtaking shoreline views that are slated for resort development by its owner, The Resort Group.  The lands of Kapua comprise at least 6,000 acres in South Kona that are classified as agricultural or conservation land.  The Resort Group acquired the land from the Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estate.

 

     Your Committees further find that the State should seek to acquire Kapua in the interests of preserving the area's diminishing pristine condition for future generations while ensuring the preservation of agriculture and the prudent economic development of the area.

 

     Your Committees are in the process of obtaining the tax map key numbers of the subject property and will advise your Committee on Ways and Means accordingly.

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Qualifying the references to "lands of Kapua" by adding "commonly known as Milolii";

 

     (2)  Requiring the Department of Land and Natural Resources to consult with The Trust for Public Lands, rather than the Hawaiian Islands Land Trust; and

 

     (3)  Changing the effective date to July 1, 2015.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Water and Land and Tourism and International Affairs that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1173, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1173, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Water and Land and Tourism and International Affairs,

 

____________________________

GILBERT KAHELE, Chair

 

____________________________

LAURA H. THIELEN, Chair