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recreational facilities; performing public safety duties (e.g., flood and rockfall prevention); issuing and managing leases of public lands (agriculture, pasture, commercial, industrial, and resort leases); maintaining unencumbered public lands; and enforcing the Department's rules/regulations. To properly perform these fiduciary duties, the Board determined that the Department should utilize a portion of the lands it manages to generate revenues to support the Department's operations and management of public lands/programs. Annual lease revenues currently support the SLDF, with revenues coming primarily from leases for commercial, industrial,resort, geothermal and other renewable energy projects. The SLDF is a critical and increasingly important funding source for various divisions within the Department to deal with emergency response to natural catastrophes such as fire, rockfall, flood or earthquake and hazard investigation and mitigation. The SLDF also is critical for staff support of various programs and funding conservation projects on all state lands. It has also become an important source of State match for federally funded endangered species and invasive species initiatives that otherwise would not go forward. The Department opposes transferring funds from the SLDF to planning committees formed under this measure for redevelopment purposes. The authority to construct, improve, renovate and revitalize areas within the counties is already authorized under Section 46-80.5 and Chapter 53, HRS. The bill seeks to redevelop the infrastructure and facilities within designated redevelopment districts. However, the bill is unnecessary because there are already existing laws and ordinances that provide the process and financing to make such improvements, as evidenced by the County of Hawaii's creation of BDHRA under Chapter 53, HRS. The measure appears to recognize the ability of a Chapter 53 agency to assist in the redevelopment of the Banyan Drive area,but goes too far in delegating authority to such an agency without oversight by the Board to negotiate and enter into a development agreement with a developer for commercial, business, or hotel or resort uses on public lands within a redevelopment area. Moreover, the measure does not explain how a Chapter 53 agency would coordinate with the Waiakea Peninsula Redevelopment District planning committee in formulating a development plan for the area. This could lead to conflicting development goals being established by the planning committee and Chapter 53 for the same lands. In dealings between the Department and BDHRA to date, it has been understood that BDHRA's role would be to develop a plan for the area and possibly assist in streamlining the County zoning and entitlement process for any redevelopment. Section 46-80.5, HRS, authorizes the various counties to enact ordinances to create special improvement districts for the purpose of providing and financing such improvements, services, and facilities within the special improvement district as the applicable county council determines necessary or desirable to restore or promote business activity in the special improvement district. This is the same purpose sought by this bill. Under the authority of Section 46-80.5, HRS, the County of Hawaii, as an example, enacted Chapter 12 of the Hawaii County Code, which authorizes the County to create improvement 6