State administration officials are planning to develop strategies to cope with the impact of climate change and rising sea levels in the Hawaiian Islands.

Gov. Neil Abercrombie Monday signed into law a measure authorizing more than $567,000 for fiscal 2014-15 to help a committee in researching and developing a report looking at areas of vulnerability and ways to adapt to anticipated problems.

The findings by the climate adaptation committee, looking at rising sea levels to 2050, is to be publicly available no later than Dec. 31, 2017.

House Bill 1714, a part of the state Democratic majority’s legislative package, said sea levels are projected to rise a foot by 2050 and 3 feet by 2100.

Noting damage to several homes on Oahu’s North Shore last winter, the Surfrider Foundation’s Hawaii coordinator, Stuart Coleman, said his members strongly contend the bill is necessary.

"We see more homes being threatened by storm surges every year all over the islands," Coleman said.

Coleman said the situation worsens as more people build sea walls to protect their property, causing more erosion along the coast.

"It doesn’t make any sense," he said.

He said it’s necessary to prepare long-term solutions, including a way of preventing construction close to the shoreline.

Some groups testifying on the bill said they wanted to make sure the committee had a broad mix of people, including scientists, environmentalists and those whose properties were threatened by rising sea levels.

The Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii said it supported the intent of the bill but wanted to make sure both public and private entities in the committee review climate change issues on "equal footing."

The bill calls for more than 14 county and state administrators to serve as members of the climate adaptation committee.

State Sen. Sam Slom, a Republican who was one of the few legislators voting against the bill, said he is leery of spending too much money on studies, particularly when there have been other studies on climate change, and he was doubtful that the committee would arrive at an "objective study."

The bill provides $108,874 to staff the state Office of Planning and $58,874 to staff the state Department of Land and Natural Resources to assist in the planning and research.

About $400,000 is to be spent to help the committee in researching and developing the report.

According to a 2012 Pacific Islands Regional Climate Assessment prepared by more than 100 scientists, warmer and drier conditions are expected to decrease freshwater supplies.

The assessment said rising sea levels, made worse by storms, will increase coastal flooding and erosion.