S.B. 1113 Summary

• Defines "coastal hazard" to include tsunami, hurricane, wind, wave, storm surges, high tide, flooding, stream flooding, erosion, sea-level rise, subsidence, and pollution.

• Adds new objectives and policies to Hawaii's coastal zone management program including beach protection, coordination and funding of beach management, and consideration of sea-level rise impacts in coastal development decisions.

• Prohibits private shoreline hardening structures (seawalls and revetments) except where they do not interfere with beach processes and existing recreational activities; prohibits such structures in areas with sand beaches when granting variances.

• Increases minimum shoreline setback requirement from 20-40 feet to a fixed 40 feet inland from the shoreline.

• Modifies variance procedures to require that hardship variances for shoreline erosion protection cannot result in flanking erosion or artificially fix the shoreline, and excludes sand beach areas from hardship-based shoreline protection structures.