Legislative Wins During the 2020 Session

By Jodi Malinoski, Hawai‘i Chapter Policy Advocate

We started the 2020 legislative session in January with high hopes for passing a variety of top priority bills to address the climate crisis and make Hawai‘i more equitable and sustainable. However, due to COVID-19 the legislature suspended session in mid-March and reconvened shortly in May and June with modified legislative processes. Thankfully, and gratefully, we were still able to pass a few good bills during this unusual and unprecedented 2020 legislative session. 

Sierra Club’s top priority environmental bills that passed and became law:

Coal Free Hawaiʻi

SB 2629 - This bill bans coal in Hawai‘i by 2023, aligning with the planned retirement of the last coal plant in the state. After similar bills stalled in the Senate over the past two sessions, Rep. Nicole Lowen inserted language to ban coal into a different bill and passed this bill out of her Committee. Rep. Luke also heard and passed this bill with good amendments. In the final floor votes, 5 members of the House opposed this bill and it was unanimously supported in the Senate. This new law ensures Hawai‘i’s progress to a 100% clean energy future and mitigates the public health impacts from the disposal of toxic coal ash in the Nānākuli community.

Protecting Our Coastlines

SB 2060 - This bill updates our coastal zone management law to protect beaches and coastal ecosystems against the impacts of sea level rise and coastal erosion. This was a top bill to address sea level rise, prevent beach loss, and protect public access to our beaches. Similar bills were introduced and failed last session, but this year the bill was heard and passed. In the final floor votes, one member of the House opposed this bill and it was unanimously supported in the Senate. This new law prevents seawalls and other shoreline hardening structures in beach areas, unless a variance is granted, and establishes a 40 foot shoreline setback from coastal development.

Bad bills that were successfully stopped:

When the legislature reconvened in May and June, a handful of bills that the Sierra Club opposed were still alive and could be considered and passed. Fortunately, the following bills were either not heard, deferred, or amended to remove problematic language:

Waterbanking of Streams

SB 2828 - This bill would amend the State Water Code to allow the potential water banking of public streams for fire safety purposes. Bills were introduced in both the House and Senate that would allow for public trust streams to be diverted and placed in large reservoirs for future fire-fighting purposes. This was particularly concerning for Maui streams, which have a history of being diverted for corporate interests at the expense of stream ecosystems and downstream communities. This bill died by failed to get a hearing in the House Finance Committee, chaired by Rep. Luke.

Management of Pasture Lands

HB 2035 - This bill would have transferred the management of 90,000 acres of watershed “pasturelands” from the Dept. of Land and Natural Resources to the Dept. of Agriculture.Instead of a wholesale transfer of these lands, Senate Chairs Kahele, Gabbard, and Dela Cruz amended this bill into a pilot project that reduced the amount of pasturelands transferred and placed other requirements on the use and management of these lands. The bill passed the House with several members voting no and passed the Senate with one member voting no. Ultimately, the bill died because the House disagreed with the Senate changes and no compromise was reached.

Rezoning Agricultural Lands

SB 3104 - This bill would have weakened the authority of the Land Use Commission in rezoning agricultural lands for the purpose of housing development. This was one of four bills that was presented as a “joint legislative package” by the House and Senate at the beginning of session. This was a comprehensive bill aimed to expedite the construction of “affordable” housing. We primarily opposed the section of the bill that would have weakened the state Land Use Commission’s oversight to approve the rezoning of lands for agricultural purposes for housing development. Upon reconvening session, this bill failed to be heard by Rep. Brower and Rep. Luke.

Schools Facility Agency Exemptions

SB 3103 - The original draft of this bill would have established a Schools Facility Agency that was exempt from environmental protection, historic preservation, and public transparency laws. This was one of four bills that was presented as a “joint legislative package” by the House and Senate at the beginning of session. This bill aimed to expedite the construction of schools in the state, but did so by setting up a new agency that was exempt from several important state laws such as Environmental Impact Statements and Historic Preservation. Rep. Woodson and Rep. Luke in the House removed all the problematic exemptions so that we no longer opposed the bill, which did pass and become law.

Other environmental bills that passed:

Buffer Zones Around Landfills

SB 2386 - This bill establishes a minimum 1/2 mile buffer zone around landfills to mitigate public health impacts and prevents waste facilities from being located in land designated for conservation purposes.

Renewable Energy Tax Credits

SB 2820 - This bill amends the renewable energy technologies income tax credit for utility-scale solar projects. The bill does not eliminate the individual or residential solar tax credit, which we strongly opposed in a separate bill.