STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1251

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    H.B. No. 1149

       H.D. 1

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2021

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committees on Water and Land and Government Operations, to which was referred H.B. No. 1149, H.D. 1, 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 reorganize and integrate the Land Use Commission (LUC) within a modified Office of Planning (OP), to be renamed the Office of Planning and Sustainable Development.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Land Use Commission and Office of Planning.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Budget and Finance.

 

     Your Committees find that the intent of this measure is to streamline government and how it handles land use and planning matters by consolidating the various governmental land use and environmental policy functions of different agencies into one new structure with a focus on sustainable development under a modified Office of Planning.  Your Committees note that the original version of this measure was introduced in conjunction with H.B. No. 1318, Regular Session of 2021, which would have integrated the Office of Environmental Quality into the Office of Planning and Sustainable Development created by this measure and created an Environmental Advisory Council to serve as a liaison between the Office of Planning and the general public regarding matters of ecology and environmental quality.

 

     Although your Committees support government efficiency, your Committees received testimony stating that there may be serious concerns and potential legal ramifications in reorganizing existing state entities of various organizational units into the Office of Planning through statute rather than through executive order or administrative rules.

 

     Accordingly, your Committees have amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Removing language that:

 

          (A)  Established the Office of Planning and Sustainable Development;

 

          (B)  Reclassified the Coastal Zone Management Program into a division;

 

          (C)  Reclassified the Statewide Sustainability Branch into a division;

 

          (D)  Required OP to act as the lead agency to coordinate climate adaptation and sustainability plans and studies;

 

          (E)  Allowed the Director of OP to employ staff without regard to chapter 76, Hawaii Revised Statutes;

 

          (F)  Required OP to also submit its five-year boundary review of the districts to the Governor, Legislature, and appropriate state and county agencies; and

 

          (G)  Required the LUC to have a separate reporting structure from the Land Use Division in OP;

 

     (2)  Clarifying language regarding the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism's jurisdiction over state planning under chapter 225M and the Hawaii State Planning Act under chapter 226;

 

     (3)  Amending section 1 to reflect its amended purpose; and

 

     (4)  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 Water and Land and Government Operations that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1149, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1149, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Water and Land and Government Operations,

 

________________________________

SHARON MORIWAKI, Chair

 

________________________________

LORRAINE R. INOUYE, Chair