Sine die session adjourned: Bill digest

By Marti Townsend, Chapter Director | Reading time: 5 minutes

This was yet another tough year at the legislature. Between being fully virtual and basically locked out of the building, the unknowns of COVID-19 and how we will recover, and a slew of bad bills... it was challenging to say the least, but we made it out the other side thanks to the support and advocacy of people like you. Even better, we have a lot to celebrate—even with the hard losses.

Top good bills to pass include: sea level rise exposure area disclosures when buying a home, and required state sea level rise planning, 100% clean ground transportation goals for government, and expansion of SNAP double bucks for farmers markets

The Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi has been advocating for sea level rise disclosures for at least 6 years—AND IT FINALLY PASSED! Big mahalo to Jodi Malinoski and Dave Raney for their perseverance and dedication to the cause! Tenacity wins the day yet again!

There was a lot of focus on playing defense this session and we managed to kill some very bad bills including allowing direct negotiations of water licenses, cutting the solar tax credit, making protesting at energy infrastructure sites a Class C felony, and several bills to limit due process.

Unfortunately, like many other years, we had a couple of hard losses—this year being the passage of 100-year leases to ceded lands and a working group to facilitate the transfer of 93,000 acres of pasturelands from DLNR to DOA. They are headed to the Governor's desk so there is still a chance to influence a veto. Contact the Governor today urging a veto of HB499, details here!

Our coalitions, partners and friends also saw some good wins that we are very proud of including a resolution in support of Waiʻoli kalo farmers, establishing a youth green jobs corps, taxing the rich through closing loopholes, and more.

Again, we can't thank you enough for your ongoing support, advocacy, and involvement in our CapitolWatch program and other legislative efforts. Every testimony you submitted, email you sent, and call you made had an incredible impact on the future of Hawaiʻi, its people and environment. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Now take a moment to rest, reset, and refocus—there's a lot more to still be done!

Top good priority bills that we helped pass:

Sea level rise disclosure (SB474) - Requires that residential real estate transactions include a disclosure if the property lies within the sea level rise exposure area.

Sea level rise planning (HB243) - Requires all state agencies to identify infrastructure susceptible to sea level rise hazards, asses mitigation options, identify department point of contacts for statewide sea level rise coordination, and submit reports.

Establishes 100% clean ground transportation goals (HB552) - Sets statewide goals for state and county public vehicle fleets to transition to clean transportation vehicles.

Expands SNAP double bucks (SB512) - Expands the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program’s “Double Up Food Bucks” initiative to incentivize the purchase of local produce and proteins for low-income beneficiaries.

Top bad priority bills we helped stop:

Allows direct negotiations of water licenses (HB1015/SB1169) - Allows the Board of Land and Natural Resources to issue long-term water licenses for the diversions of public streams via direct negotiations as an alternative to a public auction process.

Cuts the solar tax credit (SB1237/HB1173/HB1174) - Reduces the solar tax credit by 50%.

Anti-Protester Bill (HB686) - Makes it a Class C Felony to protest at energy infrastructure sites.

"Streamlining" county developments (HB497) - Prohibits the counties from requiring, as part of a county zoning ordinance or county rule, a developer with more than one residential unit to obtain the approval of any state agency unless that approval is expressly required by law.

Weakens the State Land Use Commission's Authority (SB137/HB260) - Authorizes county land use decision making authorities to amend district boundaries and reclassify agricultural lands to the urban district for the development of "affordable" housing.

Weakens Environmental Impact Statement Law (HB901/SB1055) - Allows “secondary” infrastructure improvements within a highway or public right-of-way to be exempt from environmental assessment requirements.

Eliminates contested case hearings (HB344) - Limits public participation in agency decisions on land and water use and instead force citizens to go to court.

Declaratory rulings cannot be appealed (HB341) - Limits people’s power to hold agencies accountable after they make decisions known as “declaratory rulings”.

Amends the State Water Code (HB1258) - Opens up the State Water Code, in particular water use permits, to amendments.

Top bad priority bills that passed:

99 year leases on public lands (HB499) - Authorizes the Board of Land and Natural Resources to extend certain leases of public lands for commercial, industrial, resort, mixed-use, or government use upon approval of a proposed development agreement to make substantial improvements to the land.

Watershed to “pasturelands” (HB469) - Establishes a working group of lawmakers and agency officials to decide the fate of 93,000 acres of native forest watershed used for ranching. These lands are managed by the Department of Land and Natural Resources and should be in conservation, but the Department of Agriculture wants those lands to be permanently in transferred to them from ranching purposes.

Good coalition and partner bills to celebrate:

Establishes a green jobs corps (HB1176) - Establishes a green job youth corps program in DLNR that uses federal COVID-relief funds to provide work and training opportunities to help address the unemployment impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, improve management of our watersheds, and support economic diversification.

Waiʻoli Valley Taro Hui Lease (HCR163) - Request the Board of Land and Natural Resources enter into a long-term lease with the Waiʻoli Valley Taro Hui for the group's existing use of water from Waiʻoli stream through direct negotiations.

Shrinks loophole on capital gains tax (HB133) - Increases the capital gains tax threshold from 7.25% to 9%. Increases the alternative capital gains tax for corporations from 4 to 5%.

Increases tax on $4 million+ real estate sales (HB58) - Temporarily suspends certain general excise and use tax exemptions. Increases conveyance taxes for the sale of non-commercial properties valued at $4,000,000 or greater.

Establishes the Environmental Advisory Committee (HB1318) - Transfers the rights, powers, employees, appropriations, and other personal property from the Office of Environmental Quality Control to the Office of Planning.

Funds for forest stewardship program (HB863) - Appropriates funds for the forest stewardship program of the department of land and natural resources to build and expand facilities of the state tree nurseries.