Legislative Session 2024: Wins, Missed Opportunities, and Loose Ends
by Wayne Tanaka, Chapter Director | Reading time: 8 minutes
This year’s legislative session was a wild ride for many - and thanks to the incredible engagement of the community, including Sierra Club members and supporters like yourself, we have much to celebrate. Read on for a recap of the wins, missed opportunities, and hanging questions from the past five months.
The Good
Many worried that development lobbyists this year would attempt to exploit our housing challenges as well as the devastation of Lahaina, to redouble their longstanding efforts to strip away statutory protections for our environmental and cultural integrity, food security, and climate resilience in the name of rapid (un)affordable housing (re)development.
These fears were not unfounded, as seen in numerous “zombie” bills (bills that get re-introduced and killed every year) and new, even more problematic proposals. Fortunately, however, many of these did not make it past their first hearings, and others were eventually tabled after voluminous testimonies were submitted by community members willing to stand up and raise their voices for our ‘āina, wai, and the well-being of present and future generations.
Incredibly, a bill that would actually and directly address local residents’ housing needs was also passed by the legislature and sent to the Governor’s for his final approval, thanks in large part to the unflagging leadership of Lāhainā Strong and the Maui Komohana community.
These wins included:
The passage of SB2919, which will empower counties to ensure that residential units are used to house residents, rather than vacationers. The rapid conversion of residences into vacation rentals, largely driven by corporate and nonresident land investors, has led to tens of thousands of housing units - some estimates go as high as 70,000 - being currently used as short-term vacation rentals rather than as long-term housing. In addition to directly removing units from counties’ long-term housing inventory, the rampant speculation spurred by the vacation rental boom has also contributed to the rising costs of land and housing throughout Hawai‘i. This bill would address a court ruling that prohibits counties from phasing out vacation rentals in residentially zoned areas, and allow county councils to provide both direct and indirect housing relief for local residents. Accordingly, this bill would mitigate the housing challenges so often used to scapegoat and target environmental and cultural protections and broader public interests.
Many kudos to all who supported this bill, including the members of Lāhainā Strong whose leadership and strident advocacy helped push this measure past the finish line.
The death of SB2204 and SB2175, “Zombie bills” that would have fast-tracked massive land use changes without the Land Use Commission’s careful consideration and mitigation of impacts to our food security, environmental integrity, cultural practices, climate vulnerability, and even affordable housing and job opportunities. In the face of overwhelming public testimony in opposition submitted to the Senate Water and Land Committee, SB2175 was quickly shelved and SB2204 was amended and ultimately killed after it failed to receive a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The death of HB2358, a bill that would have exempted certain "affordable housing" projects from environmental review no matter how severe the potential impacts, and without any public notice. While developer interests pushed this bill through the House Housing, Energy & Environmental Protection, and Finance Committees, over 130 testimonies in opposition convinced the Senate Housing and Agriculture and Environment Committees to significantly amend the bill, before it ultimately died by not receiving a hearing in the Senate Ways and Means Committee.
The death of SB2677, which would have rolled back Hawaiʻi’s solar hot water heater mandate for new single-family residences, by allowing exemptions for houses located in low- or moderate- income districts, or in areas of high risk of wildfires. Developers seeking to reduce their up-front costs would have been allowed to install cheaper gas heaters, passing the significantly increased long-term energy costs onto homebuyers and renters, and increasing their risk of negative health impacts and fires associated with gas heaters. Significant opposition led the House Energy & Environmental Protection Committee to gut most of the bill’s contents, and the measure subsequently died after failing to receive a hearing in the House Consumer Protection & Commerce Committee.
The death of HB2098, which would have delayed the adoption of new building codes for the better part of a decade, purportedly to expedite building permit reviews and approvals. Beyond the fact that the bill did not address the real cause of permitting delays - namely, county planning departments’ inability to hire and retain permitting staff - the measure would have also resulted in increased long-term costs for businesses and residents, missed opportunities to integrate lessons learned from climate destabilization and related disasters such as wildfires and floods, and the loss of federal funding conditioned on the adoption of up-to-date building codes. After voluminous testimony in opposition, the Senate Judiciary Committee declined to give the measure a hearing.
As demonstrated by these and other wins this past session, community engagement and input is critical to ensuring that the public’s interest - and not that of private special interests - are reflected in decisions that could impact our islands for generations to come. If you have not already, please consider signing up for Capitol Watch action alerts, and join the growing ranks of Hawai‘i residents who are willing to stand up for our islands and the well-being of present and future generations, by clicking here: https://sierraclubhawaii.org/capitolwatch-email.
The Bad
Unfortunately, this past session also saw a number of missed opportunities to make a true and lasting difference for our islands. These include:
The death of SB3327 and HB2690, two measures that would have enacted decades-old recommendations to free the Commission on Water Resource Management from political favoritism and undue influence, as most recently illustrated by the still-unexplained “reassignment” of water deputy Kaleo Manuel. Despite thousands of pages of testimonies in support, both measures died after failing to receive approval by House representatives. As Ernie Lau himself testified, generations a century from now would have been grateful for the brave policymaking these bills represented, in confronting the long history of political interference in the implementation of our water code and the rightful protection and sharing of our public trust water resources. It remains to be seen whether the House Water & Land Committee Chair, Rep. Linda Ichiyama, will fulfill her commitment to supporting another version of these bills next session.
The death of SB2923 and HB2268, the bills would have created a legal requirement for “no jet fuel in water.” These were the only measures that would have established a clear and enforceable legal standard for the full remediation of our ʻāina and wai from the release of jet fuel from the Red Hill Fuel Facility. Both measures died after failing to receive a hearing by the Senate Health and Human Services and Agriculture and Environment Committees, and the House Water & Land and Energy & Environmental Protection Committees, respectively. Notably, both Senate and House leadership had previously and repeatedly committed to pursuing the full clean-up of the contamination from the Red Hill Facility; nonetheless, the subject matter committees in both legislative chambers declined to move bills that would have legally obligated the Navy to clean up its mess.
The death of SB3237 and HB2758, the omnibus invasive species bills that would have finally filled decades-old gaps in our islands’ biosecurity framework. The quarantine and inspection authorities contained in these measures in particular would have directly fixed regulatory limitations that have inhibited the Department of Agriculture from addressing the knowing sale of infested products by nurseries and landscapers - with little to no impact on the state budget. However, despite overwhelming support from farmers, doctors, cultural practitioners, educators, ecologists, and folks from all walks of life - which kept both bills alive through crossover - neither measure received their final committee hearing by the House Finance Committee and Senate Ways and Means Committee, respectively.
And the Loose Ends
Looking ahead, the legislative session this year has left us with some open questions that will need to be answered in the months ahead.
For example, despite having a choice of three amazing candidates to fill the Native Hawaiian water management expert seat on the Water Commission - Hannah Springer of Kaʻūpūlehu, Lori Buchanan of Molokaʻi, and Makahiapo Cashman of Oʻahu - and one former plantation executive, the Governor failed to appoint a replacement for Neil Hannahs, who is scheduled to depart that seat in July. As a result, the seat could remain empty - leaving the Commission without an official Hawaiian expert representative - or could be filled by an appointee who would not be subject to the Senate advise-and-consent process and the public input it entails until next year.
In addition, while the legislature declined to pass the omnibus invasive species bills, and further failed to provide additional funding to the Hawaiʻi Ant Lab to help stem the spread of little fire ants, it did provide the Hawaiʻi Department of Agriculture with nearly $20M in additional funding to bolster its biosecurity programs - no doubt a result of the unprecedented, voluminous public demands for greater action around invasive species. Whether and how the department spends these funds in an effective manner remains to be seen, especially given the 15 months that have passed without the adoption of administrative rules to require that infested plants and other commodities be quarantined (including the three months that have elapsed since a public hearing was finally held on the rules after a year of delay). Confidence in the Department of Agriculture’s willingness to take its responsibilities to the public seriously was also further eroded in a blistering, popcorn-worthy Senate informational briefing at the beginning of May, where Department head Sharon Hurd refused to disclose the “bad actor” businesses refusing inspections despite being reported as selling plants infested with invasive species.
As this session once again demonstrated, community engagement in policymaking is critical to effecting positive change, and preventing ill-advised decisionmaking that could compromise the resilience, well-being, and quality of life of many future generations. Be sure to stay engaged by signing up for email alerts and following us on social media as we follow up on these and other post-session issues in the months ahead. Please also consider joining the Environmental Legislative Network, a network of over 100 advocates sharing legislative and policy actions and updates, by contacting us at hawaii.chapter@sierraclub.org.