Almost-Crossover CapitolWatch Catch Up

by Wayne Tanaka | Reading time: 6 minutes

Bad bills down! Thanks to your efforts, we’ve been able to stop most of the bills of major concern this legislative session. Read on for more details, and be sure to check out our Red Hill section for updates on state legislation regarding the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility.

Bad Water Bills Defeated

HB2164 would have allowed the DLNR to issue 55-year water licenses through direct negotiation, rather than through the appraisal and public auction process currently required. As reflected in the many testimonies submitted in opposition to this measure, the bill lacked critical safeguards to ensure that our public trust streams, springs, and aquifers and the people and life that depend on these water sources are not wrongfully deprived of water, in favor of the politically and economically powerful corporations who would be negotiating for long-term water licenses. After hearing the public’s concerns, House Water & Land Committee Chair David Tarnas deferred the measure.

This measure’s companion, SB3132, was also initially scheduled for a hearing before the Senate Water and Land Committee, but was ultimately pulled from the agenda, likely after numerous testimonies were received in opposition.

SB2884 would have required the automatic approval of any well or water use permit applications if they were to be used for “affordable” housing. This could have led to water uses that unduly impact Native Hawaiian traditional and customary practices, kuleana water rights, the rights of the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands and its beneficiaries, and other public trust purposes and reasonable beneficial uses otherwise protected under the public trust doctrine and state water code. After receiving dozens of testimonies in opposition by concerned community members and groups, Water and Land and Housing Committee Chairs Lorraine Inouye and Stanley Chang deferred the measure.

Bad Public Land Bills Defeated or Amended

HB1750 would have exempted “affordable housing” projects on certain public lands from environmental review (i.e. environmental impact statement or assessment) requirements. An exemption from our environmental review law for housing projects on public lands would have taken away an important mechanism for public transparency and input in the development of these lands. This in turn could have led to significant, irreparable, and avoidable impacts to the public’s environmental, socioeconomic, and cultural interests in our limited public land base.  With the significant majority of testimony submitted in opposition to this bill, it was deferred by Housing Committee Chair Nadine Nakamura and Energy & Environmental Protection Committee Chair Nicole Lowen.

HB2165 would have allowed the BLNR to issue long-term leases for any of its commercial, industrial, hotel, or resort lands, without following existing public auction requirements. Public land leases provide critical funds for the DLNR to steward our lands and waters, and a percentage of certain lease revenues should also be set aside and transferred to OHA and DHHL for public land trust and former sugarcane lands, respectively. Direct negotiation authority for 55+ year leases would have removed the transparency and accountability safeguard provided by the public auction process in the leasing of our most lucrative public lands, allowing politically powerful corporate entities to pursue and lock in low-revenue leases for generations at a time –undermining the protection of our ‘āina and our obligations to the Hawaiian community. After receiving voluminous testimonies in opposition, House Water & Land Committee Chair Tarnas deferred the measure.

SB2251 would have allowed lands set aside, leased, or held by the Hawai‘i Public Housing Authority (“HPHA”) to be used for market- or even luxury-rate housing and mixed-use developments. In addition to distracting the HPHA from its core mission of meeting the needs of our most housing-vulnerable residents, this could have led to significant pressure from politically powerful developers and others for the set aside or lease large swaths of public lands to the HPHA, for unaffordable housing and commercial development. Notably, the HPHA’s liberal leasing authorities would have allowed it to issue century-long leases for these lands, foreclosing present and future generations from ensuring their best use, and effectively erasing Native Hawaiians’ unresolved claims to leased “ceded” lands. After much testimony in opposition, Housing Committee Chair Chang amended this measure to only apply to non-“ceded” lands, avoiding the effective erasure of Native Hawaiians’ claims and significantly restricting the amount of public lands at risk of the bill’s potential unintended consequences.

Similarly, SB2502 would have allowed the HCDA to lease lands under its control, including "ceded" lands, for 99 years at a time. This could have again resulted in leases of public and “ceded” lands that foreclose future generations from ensuring their best use, and prevent the resolution of Native Hawaiian claims to the “ceded” lands corpus. After hearing the public’s concerns, Water and Land Committee Chair Inouye amended the measure to only apply to non-“ceded” lands, avoiding the effective erasure of Native Hawaiians’ claims and significantly limiting the amount of public lands that may be subject to century-long leases.

These victories would not have happened were it not for your testimonies, emails, and engagement during the first few months of this year’s legislative session. Please continue to stay informed by signing up for updates on our Capitol Watch website and please ask your friends and community members to do the same!

Bad Bills Still Standing

While much has been accomplished, there still are a handful of bills that we may need to endeavor to defeat after crossover next week. These include:

SB2062 is still technically alive, and would exempt the proposed drilling, construction, or use of a well on Department of Agriculture leased lands from environmental review requirements if the land is used to support agriculture and food production. This would remove a critical mechanism for the protection of Hawaiʻi’s natural and cultural resources from well construction activities, including our public trust water resources that are already under strain from climate change, over extraction, diversions, and pollution. Exempting major infrastructure projects, like wells, from environmental review requirements may result in needless impacts to our natural and cultural resources and associated cultural and recreational activities, by removing public and expert review in project planning and development. This measure could make it to crossover if it gets a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee before this week’s decking deadline.

SB2068 is a “zombie” bill from prior years, and would mandate the transfer of tens of thousands of acres of public “pasture lands” from the Department of Land and Natural Resources to the Department of Agriculture, which lacks the mission, expertise, and staff capacity to safeguard the numerous watershed, ecological, cultural, and public access values of these lands. The Senate Ways and Means and Judiciary Committees are hearing this measure on Wednesday, March 2; depending on what the Committees do, we may have to work to defeat this measure in the House, after crossover.

Scheduled for the same Committee hearing as SB2068 is SB3133. This is the companion to HB2165 described above, and would allow for the direct negotiation of long-term leases for our most lucrative public lands. Again, depending on what the Committees do, we may have to work to defeat this measure in the House, after crossover.

MAHALO NUI to all of you who have testified, made phone calls, and encouraged others to do the same. We would not be able to have come this far without you, and we will still need your help this year and in coming legislative sessions to ensure the protection of our islands’ environment and cultural integrity.

Me ka ha‘aha‘a,
Wayne