At the Jan. 28 meeting of the House Committee on Water and Land the committee took formal action on multiple bills. Chair Mark Asham called the roll votes and recorded the committee’s recommendations. Key outcomes recorded by the committee clerk were:

- HB 1144 (employment in State Historic Preservation Division): Committee recommendation to pass with amendments; report to include labor/position reclassification direction and a defective date placed in committee report.

- HB 12 (tort liability / landowner immunity): Committee recommendation to defer (members expressed concerns about overbroad immunity language; testimony highlighted HRS 663-1.54 and comparative-fault standards).

- HB 29 (counties / property takings process): Committee adopted vice chair amendments and passed with amendments; committee report to include language about refunding sale proceeds that exceed unpaid fines to property owners and an HD1 was generated.

- HB 175 (property maintenance / noxious weeds and fire risk): Committee passed with amendments accepting DLNR technical input; responsibility for invasive-plant enforcement placed under Department of Agriculture, fire-related enforcement clarified for State Fire Marshal and county fire departments.

- HB 331 (state agency permits / repetitive construction exemption): Committee passed with amendments including DLNR and DOE-suggested language clarifying the definition of “repetitive construction projects” (limited to one-for-one replacement and minor repair that do not increase plumbing/electrical demand and do not engage external agencies); committee report to include further drafting and a defective date.

- HB 3 (North Shore beach management): Committee accepted and advanced the measure with a defective date for drafting.

- HB 309 (fishponds): Committee accepted DLNR recommendations and advanced the bill; the committee deferred a $250,000 appropriation into the committee report rather than in statute.

- HB 306 / HB 30306 (water code fines): Committee moved a technical approach to align with the administration’s HB 1142 and adopted staged penalties in the committee report; required DLNR and Board of Water Supply follow-up materials.

- HB 505 (Red Hill remediation funding and VIE): Committee advanced HB 505 to HD1 with technical amendments and directions to pursue Navy/federal funding and clarify fund allocation; committee also recorded broad public support.

- HB 305 (return of military-leased lands / Aloha Aina trust): Committee deferred the measure to permit additional drafting in consultation with DLNR and stakeholders; DLNR asked that ongoing EIS and lease-renewal processes be allowed to play out before statutory disposition is set.

Several bills moved forward with technical amendments and committee directions; the clerk recorded adopted recommendations and defective dates on multiple measures to allow redrafting.

Votes were taken in the meeting and chair recorded the committee's recommendations; many measures were advanced with technical amendments and requests for follow-up action in the committee report.