S.B. 2060 Summary

• Amends Hawaii's coastal zone management law to strengthen protections against sea level rise and coastal erosion by adding three new definitions: "authority" (county planning commission or equivalent), "beach" (sand coastal landforms providing public recreation and natural hazard buffer), and "coastal hazards" (tsunami, hurricane, wind, waves, storm surge, flooding, erosion, sea level rise, and pollution).

• Expands coastal zone management objectives and policies to explicitly protect beaches and coastal dunes as valuable ecosystems and natural buffers against coastal hazards, and emphasizes sea level rise considerations in coastal development decisions.

• Restricts shoreline hardening (seawalls and revetments) by prohibiting private construction and minimizing public construction at sites with sand beaches or where hardening would interfere with recreational activities; replaces the "hardship variance" standard with stricter requirements to prevent flanking erosion cycles.

• Raises the shoreline setback requirement from a minimum of 20 feet to a fixed 40 feet inland from the shoreline and prohibits reconstruction, enlargement, or replacement of structures within the shoreline area without a variance.

• Modifies the definition of "development" to include single-family residences on shoreline parcels or parcels impacted by waves, storm surge, high tide, or shoreline erosion, bringing such residential projects under coastal zone management review requirements.