STAND. COM. REP. NO. 523

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 1307

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2017

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committees on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs and Housing, to which was referred S.B. No. 1307 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO LAND USE,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to allow county councils to establish neighborhood revitalization boards for certain areas within the counties for the purposes of developing neighborhood revitalization plans, requesting funding for the plans, commenting on proposed policies and regulations impacting the board's neighborhood, and advocating for the board's neighborhood.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Kauai Planning Department; Department of Planning and Permitting for the City and County of Honolulu; Hoomana Pono, LLC; Hawaii Regional Council of Carpenters; Wahiawa Community Based Development Organization; and one individual.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.

 

     Your Committees find that receiving input related to neighborhood development from the residents most affected by any such development is essential for targeting the actual needs of individual neighborhoods.  Neighborhood revitalization boards for census-designated neighborhoods ripe for revitalization, consisting of members from the neighborhood itself, can provide invaluable insight for targeting revitalization efforts.  Accordingly, this measure:

 

     (1)  Allows county councils to establish neighborhood revitalization boards to be administered by the counties for the purpose of developing neighborhood revitalization plans, commenting on proposed policies and regulations, and advocating for census-designated areas in each county;

 

     (2)  Allows neighborhood revitalization boards to request funding from the county councils, state legislature, and United States Congress; and

 

     (3)  Requires the counties to provide at least twenty per cent matching funds for any neighborhood revitalization plan or project that receives state funds.

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs and Housing that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1307, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1307, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs and Housing,

 

________________________________

WILL ESPERO, Chair

 

________________________________

CLARENCE K. NISHIHARA, Chair