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HB318
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
H.B. NO.
318
THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2025
STATE OF HAWAII
A BILL FOR AN ACT
relating
to conservation banking
.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
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SECTION
1.
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The legislature finds that the use of
conservation banks as compensatory mitigation projects for incidental take
licensees with habitat conservation plans increases certainty that the
mitigation obligation is complete, expedites project review, and makes project
costs more predictable for incidental take licensees.
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Conservation banks provide long-term,
landscape-scale protection to Hawaii's threatened, endangered, candidate, and
proposed species.
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The
purpose of this Act is to authorize the department of land and natural
resources to operate and approve conservation banks to provide for situations
where a person or entity is required to provide compensatory mitigation to
offset adverse impacts to threatened, endangered, candidate, or proposed
species as part of an approved incidental take license and habitat conservation
plan.
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SECTION
2.
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Chapter 195D, Hawaii Revised
Statutes, is amended by adding a new part to be appropriately designated and to
read as follows:
"
Part
CONSERVATION
BANKING
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�195D-
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Definitions.
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As used in this part:
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"Bank
sponsor" means any public or private entity responsible for establishing
or operating a conservation bank.
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"Compensatory
mitigation" means actions taken to fulfill, in whole or in part,
mitigation requirements pursuant to this chapter.
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"Conservation bank"
means a site or suite of sites established under a conservation bank instrument
for the purposes of restoring, creating, enhancing, or protecting populations
of threatened, endangered, candidate, or proposed species and their habitats
expressed as credits.
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"Conservation
bank instrument" means an agreement between the board and a bank sponsor
that establishes a conservation bank and describes the terms and conditions of
its operation, including a system for assessing and releasing credits to be used
for compensatory mitigation.
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"Credit"
means a value based on defined units representing the increase in numbers of
individuals of a listed species or attainment of enhanced ecological functions
or services essential for the survival of a listed species at a conservation bank
and released as the conservation bank meets performance criteria included in
its conservation bank instrument.
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�195D-
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Conservation
banking.
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The department or other
bank sponsor may seek board approval of a conservation bank instrument to
operate a conservation bank for the purposes of restoring, creating, enhancing,
or protecting populations of threatened, endangered, candidate, or proposed species
and their habitats to provide for situations where a person or entity is
required to provide compensatory mitigation to offset adverse impacts to
threatened, endangered, candidate, or proposed species as part of an approved incidental
take license and habitat conservation plan."
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SECTION 3.
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This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
INTRODUCED BY:
_____________________________
Report Title:
DLNR; Conservation Banks
Description:
Authorizes
the Department of Land and Natural Resources to operate and approve
conservation banks.
The summary description
of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is
not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.