Civil Beat: Coal-Burning Ban Among Measures On Track To Clear Hawaii Legislature

Bills to regulate Lyft and Uber, prohibit sea walls and reform gun laws also have agreement between the House and Senate ahead of a final vote Friday.

By Blaze Lovell   / July 8, 2020

Reading time: 7 minutes. Original article here.

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The Legislature could still make good on some of its promises to address climate change, expand preschool access and improve mental health services before adjourning the 2020 session this week.

Those are just a few of the measures that have won agreement in both the House and Senate and are planned to face final floor votes on Friday. If passed, the measures would move to Gov. David Ige for his approval or veto.

But there are others that aren’t likely to make it. Bills that won approval in the Senate to crack down on illegal short-term vacation rentals and another that would give the Department of Health more authority to impose quarantine restrictions could be rejected by the House.

A vaping ban also appears to be in trouble as House lawmakers disagreed with the Senate’s changes to House Bill 2457. A bill extending the statute of limitations for childhood sexual assault cases, House Bill 2177, also appears in limbo.

But both chambers appeared to have agreement on dozens of bills as of Wednesday, the “second crossover” deadline for bills to clear the chambers.

One of those bills could further Hawaii’s fight against climate change.

Senate Bill 2629 would end coal burning in Hawaii by 2022, which coincides with the date AES Hawaii is expected to shutter Hawaii’s last coal-burning plant. It would also prevent any new companies from entering into agreements to provide electricity by burning coal.

SB 2629 began this session as a bill to set up a carbon offset program in the state. The coal burning provisions were inserted into the bill June 22 by the House Energy and Environmental Protection Committee, chaired by Rep. Nicole Lowen, who has pushed for environmentally friendly measures in past sessions.

The measure has support from Hawaiian Electric Co., the Department of Health, the Hawaii State Energy Office, Sierra Club of Hawaii and the Blue Planet Foundation, among other organizations.

Hawaii has a goal of having 100% of its energy come from renewable resources by 2045. SB 2629 could help support that goal, said Jodi Malinoski, a policy manager with Sierra Club.

“It sends a strong message that we are committed to clean energy,” she said.

If the bill becomes law, Hawaii would join states like Oregon and New York that have also moved toward halting coal plants.

A similar measure authored by House Speaker Scott Saiki cleared the chamber in March but stalled after the coronavirus pandemic closed the Capitol and caused lawmakers to suspend the 2020 session.

Another significant environmental measure is Senate Bill 2060, which combines several proposals to help mitigate against rising sea levels. 

SB 2060 includes a provision to ban construction of sea walls or coastal hardening projects on beaches. Supporters say that while they might protect the infrastructure and houses directly behind them, they contribute to coastal erosion over time.

The measure also increases setbacks for new developments to 40 feet away from the shore. The current setback is 20 feet. The bill would also strengthen language in Hawaii’s Coastal Zone Management law to mandate the state protects its reefs as well as beaches and dunes.

SB 2060 has remained largely intact since it was first introduced earlier this session by Sen. Donovan Dela Cruz. It’s opposed by HECO and the American Institute of Architects.

HECO writes in its testimony that the setback requirement could encompass some of its nearshore facilities, making it harder to install upgrades and sea walls.

And for supporters, that’s the point.

“As the sea level rises we can expect a dramatic increase in the number of variances sought to armor coastal properties,” Dave Raney, of the Sierra Club, wrote to lawmakers. “It is appropriate to take measures now to guard against further coastal armoring and promote managed retreat alternatives where feasible.”

Still, the setback is not as drastic as another bill proposed earlier this session.

Senate Bill 2381 would have banned building anywhere makai of 6 feet above sea level. That could essentially halt new developments anywhere between the shoreline and, in some cases, up to half a mile away from the water.

It got heavy pushback from the building industry, and stalled in the House in March.

Mental Health

Lawmakers also began this session focused on closing the revolving door of the mentally ill shuffling in and out of the corrections and judicial systems. That revolving door might soon turn into a funnel toward treatment.

House Bill 1620 would divert non-violent misdemeanants who have been arrested into the health care system and away from incarceration. Under the bill, if a court believes a defendant is suffering from a mental illness, that person may be sent to receive psychiatric treatment for up to a week.

A treatment team would decide what kind of care the patient receives, and the court could also dismiss charges.

As part of the state’s budget, lawmakers also raised the spending ceiling for a fund that would be used to increase the bed space at the state hospital for civil commitments, or those who are sent to receive psychiatric treatment against their will.

In instances where a defendant intends to rely on a physical or mental illness as a defense, the bill also gives the court more flexibility to have a team evaluate defendants and divert them into treatment programs or into a specialized court.

The bill has support from the public defender’s office, the state judiciary and the DOH. However, the Office of the Public Defender opposes a section of the bill that reduces the number of examiners for a Class C felony in which mental health is used as a defense from three to one.

“In many cases, the desire to push a person through the system quickly, under the guise of protecting the speedy processing of a case or in the name of judicial economy, is counter-productive,” the office told lawmakers. “Our office has seen many cases where the three panel of examiners disagree on whether a defendant had the capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of his/her conduct.”

The Honolulu Prosecutor’s Office opposed the measure over worries that some defendants could slip through, not receiving the treatment they need but also having their cases dismissed.

Guns, Transportation, Education

A bill to regulate transportation network companies like Uber and Lyft is also likely to pass — which would make Hawaii one of the last states to do so.

House Bill 2002 is set for a final vote Friday. Earlier this session, the bill had stronger language that would allow the state to launch investigations into drivers if complaints come in from riders.

The ride-hailing companies preferred language in a similar measure, Senate Bill 2808, which lacked the provisions on investigations. Sen. Lorraine Inouye, chair of the Senate Transportation Committee, inserted the language of SB 2808 into HB 2002.

Several measures dealing with guns are also likely to pass. 

House Bill 1902 would ban rifle magazines larger than 10 rounds, while Senate Bill 3054 requires anyone who moves guns out of the state to notify county police departments.

And while measures to raise the minimum wage and expand affordable housing that were part of a legislative package from earlier this session are dead, two pieces of that platform dealing with school buildings and access to pre-K education are likely to pass.

House Bill 2543 sets a state goal of having all 3- to 4-year-olds in preschool by 2030. It also sets up a framework to make that happen.

Senate Bill 3103 would take away the Department of Education’s authority over building and maintenance projects and transfer that power to a newly created school facilities agency.

We Can Have It All: Ag, Public Access And Forest Protection (op-ed)

But it requires Hawaii legislators to vote “no” on transferring DLNR lands to the DOA for pasture.

By Moana Bjur

Community Voice Editorial for Civil Beat

July 7, 2020 · 4 min read

Our public lands should be put to the highest and best use for the public trust.

A bill being heard this Legislative session would transfer 45,000 acres of public lands that have native Hawaiian cultural resources, public trails and hunting areas, endangered species, and native forests, to the state Department of Agriculture, whose mission is solely agriculture. These lands have been managed for over a century by the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, which provides these lands to ranchers while also protecting the multiple resources these lands have to offer.

House Bill 2035, HD1, SD1 seeks to transfer 11 parcels of state land — leased to four ranches on Hawaii island — from the DLNR to the DOA.

First, the singling out of these four ranches raises questions. In fact, it may be unconstitutional. Article XI, section 5, of the Hawai‘i Constitution prohibits special legislation favoring some, and passing this bill may expose the state to lawsuits.

The DLNR has been leasing these lands for decades to these ranchers, while ensuring that many community benefits remain protected. For example, the DLNR negotiates with Kapapala ranch to continue to allow public access to roads used by the Kau community to access the forest, and to the Ainapo Trail. This trail is so significant that it is on the National Register of Historic Places because it is the traditional Hawaiian route to the Mauna Loa summit, used to provide offerings to Pele during eruptions.

The DLNR also has negotiated to allow public hunting across 28,000 acres of this ranch, contributing to Hawaii’s food self-sufficiency and a much-loved recreation area used by generations of local families. Because DLNR’s mission includes public hunting and trails, these features are protected. If the lands go to DOA, would those lease terms for public access remain, or would the public access signs be replaced by “no trespassing” signs?

‘Watershed Partnership Plans’

Over 10,000 acres of the lands proposed to be transferred are native rainforests, intact enough to include endangered forest birds and plants. DLNR has been working with the ranchers to set aside these old growth forests, or create sustainable agro-forestry and carbon sequestration projects.

With climate change and species extinction threatening our planet, is it appropriate to convert some of Hawaii’s last remaining native rainforest to DOA?

Ranchers say that transfer to DOA will allow them to get more long-term leases at cheaper rents, potentially because DOA is able to directly negotiate with tenants to extend leases, rather than having to competitively auction lands once leases end. DLNR could also get that authority, and has proposed that solution through HB 2358 or Senate Bill 2914.

The bill requires “watershed partnership plans” be created and implemented. However, this is meaningless without a requirement on who approves those plans or the amount of funds that the ranch must contribute.

Ranchers mention that they will still be required to implement “conservation plans” if the lands go to DOA. This is untrue. Many ranches do not have any conservation plans. The plans some of them have are short-term voluntary soil plans made with the Federal Natural Resources Conservation Service, that the ranches can choose not to renew. Since these lands do not have the regulatory protections provided by the Conservation District, they could be clear-cut and grazed to the dirt without needing any further approvals.

Much is to be lost if these precious lands are transferred.

Bill proponents say this will institute the intention of a law passed 17 years ago (Act 90) which set a process for the transfer of certain leases in the Agricultural District from the DLNR to the DOA. Again, not true. That law recognized that some of these lands are not appropriate to transfer, so required that the DLNR must approve of the transfers. DLNR has already transferred 18,000 acres, but does not support the transfer of some of these lands because of their multiple natural and cultural values that should be protected for the public.

Much is to be lost and little gained if these precious natural lands are transferred to DOA. We can continue to have ranching while also protecting native Hawaiian cultural resources, public access and hunting, endangered species and forests if these lands remain under DLNR.

Civil Beat: Legislature Passes Budget Cuts But Will Be Back In June

The $1 billion in spending reductions will now go to Gov. David Ige for his review.

By Blaze Lovell   / May 21, 2020

The Hawaii Legislature is back in recess after passing a number of bills aimed at shoring up a $1 billion shortfall in the state budget and setting aside $1.3 billion in the state’s rainy day fund.

Legislative leaders said Thursday they will take a three-week timeout and use that time to figure out how best to spend those rainy day funds on emergency budget issues and keeping programs afloat. They also want to take another look at the budget cuts they just passed in House Bill 2200 to make sure they hold up.

Lawmakers tentatively plan to reconvene on June 15.

Gov. David Ige, who now gets to consider the bills passed Thursday, said his administration will also look to make sure the legislators did not axe positions that have actually been filled or take funding that could be used by agencies.

“We want to make sure they didn’t make inadvertent cuts that reduce warm bodies,” Ige said. “That causes layoffs.”

Pay cuts, furloughs and layoffs were all things Sen. Donovan Dela Cruz and Rep. Sylvia Luke, chairs of the Legislature’s money committees, hoped to avoid by cutting unfilled positions and taking unspent funds from departments.

But state budget director Craig Hirai told senators at a committee hearing later Thursday afternoon that furloughs may be imminent even with the budget cuts. Hirai said his department has proposals to avoid such things in the short term, but “typically they aren’t sustainable.”

“You’ve just depressed everyone, Craig,” Dela Cruz said.

Ige, who is a former chair of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, had proposed pay cuts and furloughs in March.

He said Thursday that eliminating vacant positions could slow Hawaii’s economic recovery. 

“As anyone who was involved in the last economic recession remembers, when we eliminate vacancies, it really hampers the restoration of services,” the governor said.

What’s Getting Cut

The Legislature made cuts almost across the board, including to the state Department of Health, the agency tasked with leading efforts to combat the coronavirus. 

The DOH would have about $38 million less to spend this fiscal year, which ends June 30. Its budget would also see a dip of about $20 million in fiscal year 2021.

At a press conference Thursday afternoon, DOH Director Bruce Anderson echoed Ige, saying the administration is still working with the Legislature on the budget.

“I think they’re generally familiar with our situation,” Anderson said of the lawmakers, adding that lab capacity should be expanded to help deal with the virus.

In fact, state labs would lose $1.1 million and five supposedly vacant positions under the spending plans approved by lawmakers. Adult mental health programs run by DOH could see a cut of $11.4 million — about 66 staff — this fiscal year. 

Various social services programs like child protective services and child care also could see cuts this year of about $49 million.

About $30 million of that comes from a fund used to support the state Department of Human Services Med-QUEST division, which also makes insurance payments. That division will get increased funding next year, however.

The Department of Education could also see about $45 million in cuts under HB 2200, although the DOE has already identified $150 million that could be used to shore up its budget.

Lawmakers put $1.3 billion through two separate measures into the state’s rainy day fund until they return in mid-June when they would have more time and better information on how to distribute it.

Luke said the governor has given no indication that he plans to veto any of the budget measures passed Thursday.

Revenue Picture Not Good

The state Council on Revenues is scheduled to update its revenue projections for the state next week. 

If May tax collections from the Department of Taxation are any indication, it won’t be pretty.

“Don’t freak out,” DOTAX Director Rona Suzuki told a panel of senators before reading out collections numbers.

So far for May, general excise tax collections are at $151 million — down from $314 million this time last year. The tourism tax has netted the state just $4 million.

Income tax still held at about $83 million, but corporate tax collections fell to $4 million, Suzuki said.

The Council on Revenues is expected to make revenue projections for the last few months of this fiscal year as well as the next five fiscal years.

State Economist Eugene Tian, while not a member of the council, told lawmakers the state could see a drop in revenue of about 6% in 2020 and 14% in 2021.

That could mean anywhere between $400 million and $1.3 billion less in general fund revenues. Economists have previously predicted shortfalls as high as $1.8 billion.

Ige’s administration will be able to borrow about $2.1 billion in low interest federal loans to give the state more cash-on-hand if needed.

Lawmakers also approved more than $2.1 billion worth of bond-financed capital improvements projects.

Government spending has been considered good fiscal policy to keep the economy afloat during downturns. However, Hawaii’s rate of borrowing may surpass the state debt limit.

Rep. Gene Ward, the House minority leader, said that with the state’s level of borrowing, it’s time to start diversifying the economy.

“We’ll need to grow ourselves out of the huge amount of debt we are putting ourselves in,” Ward said on the House floor.

Not all lawmakers were on board with the new budget measures.

Sen. Laura Thielen, who voted no on two of the budget bills, said at least some of the money should have been used to provide some financial assistance to folks still waiting for their unemployment claims.

Thielen earlier this week expressed her concerns that not enough was being done to help people impacted most by the economic downturn.

Sen. Russell Ruderman echoed Thielen’s sentiments on the Senate floor, saying the state should not be afraid of borrowing money to shore up its budget, while using other funds to help working families.

“We can handle long-term debt,” Ruderman said. “Families without cannot handle their current situations.”

Civil Beat: Legislative Deal In The Works Would Use Untapped Funds To Dodge Budget Cuts

A new financial plan taps into mostly unused funds while moving around money for affordable housing and Aloha Stadium.

By Blaze Lovell   

Read original article here.

Hawaii would avoid draconian budget cuts, reduced social services and public employee furloughs under a plan being worked out between House and Senate leadership.

The plan already has preliminary agreement between the chairs of the Legislature’s powerful money committees and will be presented publicly when the Legislature reconvenes on Monday for a shortened session.

Lawmakers are looking to plug a $1 billion hole in the budget caused by the coronavirus pandemic that has stalled the local economy and subsequently crashed state tax revenues.

The plan includes tapping into the state’s rainy day fund, taking excess revenues from state departments, removing vacant positions from the budget and raiding unused funds for mental health services.

It’s expected to be part of a package of six bills that aim to keep the state government afloat until at least June 30, 2021, the end of the next fiscal year. 

Sen. Donovan Dela Cruz and Rep. Sylvia Luke, chairs of the Legislature’s money committees, plan to tap unused funds to fill the state’s budget hole.

Sen. Donovan Dela Cruz and Rep. Sylvia Luke, who chair the Senate Ways and Means Committee and House Finance Committee, detailed the budget plan in a meeting with Civil Beat reporters Friday afternoon, just hours after their colleagues in the Legislature also got a first glimpse of what the cuts look like.

“What we did, instead of taking the governor’s budget, we started with the budget we had last year,” Dela Cruz said, referencing the state’s base budget. “That shrinks the puka we need to fill.” 

The lawmakers plan to use $395 million worth of rainy day funds Hawaii has stored over the last seven years. Luke has said that if there ever was a time to spend that money, this is it.

About $20 million would come from the Mental Health and Substance Abuse special fund. The fund was set up in the 1990s and is used for rehabilitation and treatment services. It’s the only special fund the lawmakers plan to reduce.

The mental health fund has about $51 million, but the Department of Health is only allowed to spend about $15 million of that each year, Luke said. Last year, DOH reported revenues to the fund of about $9 million with just $5 million in expenses. 

Health officials have asked the Legislature to use an additional $10 million from that fund to increase the number of stabilization beds at the Hawaii State Hospital and that request will still go forward, Luke said.

“In this time, it’s an important thing,” Luke said of the expanded access to mental health services. “That’s why we aren’t depleting the entire fund, and leaving the excess to do as planned.”

Additional beds for mental health services at the state hospital would still be funded.

The next biggest chunk, about $286 million, would come from unused funds from state departments, spending restrictions that have accrued over time, and vacant positions, Dela Cruz said.

Of that, the state Department of Education identified $150 million in savings that could be used to help avoid pay cuts for teachers. The DOE was hit particularly hard by budget cuts in 2009 with the infamous “Furlough Fridays” that resulted in teachers getting less pay and students spending less time in class. 

The lawmakers are also projecting savings of $71 million through vacant positions that go unfilled year after year.

About $250 million for the Rental Housing Revolving Fund and $20 million for the new Aloha Stadium would be financed with state bonds rather than general fund monies. The housing monies have gone to developers of affordable rentals as part of an effort to boost the state’s housing inventory.

On Monday, the committees will take public testimony on bills to balance the budget. And though the new budget has agreement between Dela Cruz and Luke, last minute changes could still be made. 

After clearing the Senate, the budget bill, House Bill 2200, needs to go back to the House for final approval. Luke said her committee could quickly make changes if needed.

Also during the coming week, the committees could consider allowing the governor to tap into federal bonds, passing a $2.1 billion capital improvements plan to stimulate the economy and eliminating pay raises for the Legislature, state judiciary and government executives, like Gov. David Ige, who in April proposed 20% pay cuts across the board as a means to shore up the budget.

That proposal is still being worked on by House Speaker Scott Saiki, Senate President Ron Kouchi, Chief Justice Mark Recktenwald and Ige, Dela Cruz said.

Lawmakers have other options, too. Luke said they’ve talked about halting some payments to the state’s health plan for retirement benefits, a move that could increase the time it takes to pay off Hawaii’s $26.5 billion in unfunded liabilities.

Public employees also will lose out on $100 million in pay raises that were on the table when the Legislature abruptly recessed in March. Other pay raises that were approved in the 2019 session will still go into effect, however.

Luke said Thursday legislative leaders want to avoid cuts to social services, reductions in work hours or furloughs.

Just how much the state budget will suffer as the economy continues to sputter is still unclear. Revenue projections now show the state could see a deficit as early as 2022 even if the 2021 budget is balanced.

Now, the preliminary budget cuts proposed for fiscal year 2021 are based on a 16% drop in state tax revenues projected by the University of Hawaii Research Organization. A new projection by the state Council on Revenues is not due until May 28, after the budget likely has been passed.

Dela Cruz said that the budget could be corrected in June, when the Legislature likely will need to meet again in a special session. 

Legislators also don’t know how much money they can count on from Congress. Another round of stimulus funding proposed by the U.S. House of Representatives could run into opposition in the U.S. Senate.

Hawaii already is set to receive $1.2 billion in COVID-19 federal relief through the so-called CARES Act. That money must be used on programs related to fighting COVID-19 and needs to be spent by December.

Of that money, the City and County of Honolulu will get $387 million, while the state can spend $862 million.

But Luke and Dela Cruz plan to send about $552 million of that stimulus money to the state rainy day fund in case Congress decides the money can be spent to cover shortfalls in the budget. 

A breakdown of how the Legislature wants federal relief funds spent.

Civil Beat: Hawaii Lawmakers Are Trying To Figure Out How To Get Back Into Session

If details on social distancing and constitutionality can be worked out, the Hawaii Legislature could meet this month.

By Chad Blair 

Itching to resume a legislative session that was unexpectedly suspended by the coronavirus outbreak in mid-March, Hawaii legislators are working to find a way to reconvene.

It could be as early as next week, when the 2020 session that began in January was set to wind up.

Another day being floated is May 11, though there was no firm date as of Thursday.

Key to setting a date and determining how long to meet depends on when Gov. David Ige relaxes the stay-at-home orders that are in place until May 31. If there are no changes, it could push a session into early June.

There are also questions about how to convene — in person with social-distancing measures in place, for example, remotely via videoconferencing, or a combination.

Discussions about reconvening are still ongoing and Civil Beat talked to a number of lawmakers who would only talk about the plans if they weren’t identified.

House and Senate leadership have been consulting with the Hawaii Attorney General’s Office to determine whether legislators must be physically present on the chamber floor to vote.

If not, neighbor island lawmakers could conceivably vote remotely via Zoom or with some other platform. House majority members have been meeting over Zoom at least once a week.

There is also the possibility of Oahu lawmakers meeting in person at the Capitol in Honolulu to vote on essential business. A quorum in the 51-member House is just 26 members — a simple majority (34 representatives live on Oahu). The 25-member Senate requires 13 votes (13 senators represent Oahu).

An Oahu-only vote would no doubt be unpalatable to many legislators. This is also an election year, and many legislators have already pulled campaign filing papers to run for reelection or for other offices.

Should neighbor island lawmakers wish to travel to Oahu, it’s likely they would be exempt from the 14-day quarantine on interisland travel that is also in effect until May 31. But, as one House member said, it might not send a good public health message for them to be seen boarding airplanes.

For now, leadership has little to provide in the way of details, other than to confirm they are working on things.

“Senate President Kouchi is in preliminary discussions about the possibility of resuming the session,” Senate Communications Director Jesse Broder Van Dyke said via email Thursday. “Questions such as what date, and how procedures will be modified with social distancing requirements, are still being discussed at this time.”

House leaders offered no formal response to inquiries Thursday.

But Speaker Scott Saiki announced in a press release that House offices at the State Capitol will remain closed through May 31 “to maintain consistency with Governor David Ige’s stay-at-home order directing all persons to remain and work from home except for those performing necessary functions.”

‘Significant Policy Decisions’

If and when the Legislature reconvenes, the priority would almost certainly be on COVID-19 relief measures through appropriations.

The money bills will be determined in large part by the amount of assistance coming to Hawaii from the federal government, and the next forecast from the state Council on Revenues later this month.

By all indications, Hawaii is expected to see a dramatic drop in tax revenues driven primarily by the near shuttering of the tourism industry.

The Ige administration has been working on ideas for an economic recovery, as have the House and Senate special committees on the coronavirus.

Unfinished business at the Legislature includes a number of gubernatorial appointees that await confirmation hearings, including members of the Cabinet.

While it is unclear what other work might be done in a reconvened session or a possible special session later this year, many legislators are eager to meet again.

“I think we need to come back,” said Sen. Jarrett Keohokalole, who is a member of the Senate’s special COVID-19 committee. “The main concern is constitutional provisions on how to have floor votes, but I don’t think there is any technical issue that cannot be worked out.”

Keohokalole said serving on the special committee has made it clear to him that “there are some real serious and significant policy decisions that need to be made that are being made by the administration right now without sufficient transparency.”

For a recovery process to be meaningful, he said, the public has to have input.

“This is our purview,” he said.

Sen. Karl Rhoads, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, hopes the Legislature can take up other tasks when it meets.

“None of the other problems that we were working on are going to go away,” he said, noting that key bills were poised to meet internal deadlines before the abrupt recess. “We were coming up on second lateral, and I’d hate to see all that work go out the window.”

“We are seeing the folly of our approach to putting all our eggs in one basket.” — Sen. Glenn Wakai

Rhoads said he would like to avoid budget cuts, arguing that that would “make the recession worse.”

And, while it will not be addressed much in this session, the pandemic has exposed all too obviously just how dependent Hawaii is on one main industry.

“We are seeing the folly of our approach to putting all our eggs in one basket,” said Sen. Glenn Wakai. “Tourism has been laying the golden eggs, but we need more geese.”

Wakai, chair of the Senate Energy, Economic Development and Tourism Committee, said he would push his colleagues on what he calls a triple-A economic plan: alternative energy, aquaculture and aerospace.

“Hawaii can be a global leader in these areas,” he said. “We won’t see people picking up these technologies and moving to the mainland. It’s time to pivot.”

Civil Beat: Pandemic Is Scrambling State Budget Priorities

The COVID-19 calamity means the Hawaii Legislature’s grand plans for the 2020 session may be just pipe dreams.

By Chad Blair    / April 12, 2020

April at the Hawaii State Capitol is usually the busiest time of the year and a driver of news and developments.

The Senate and the House of Representatives were scheduled to vote last week on hundreds of bills to meet the Thursday deadline ahead of the Good Friday holiday.

Instead, both chambers of the Legislature have been in recess since March 17 because of the coronavirus. It was obvious that 76 lawmakers, their staffs and hundreds of other people (including me) who spend time at the Capitol could not gather with social distancing measures in place.

It’s not clear when the Legislature will reconvene this year, even to formally gavel out the session that was to have ended May 7. And that means the status of the $8.1 billion supplemental operating budget for the 2021 fiscal year that begins July 1 is in limbo.

Hawaii leaders showed rare agreement before the 2020 session began on issues such as cost of living, affordable housing and education. COVID-19 is testing that unity like never before.

The reason: Hawaii’s general fund is by all accounts expected to take a giant hit due to the near full collapse of the visitor industry, closing of businesses and furloughing of employees statewide.

General excise taxes and income taxes are the largest drivers of revenue into state coffers, and University of Hawaii economist Carl Bonham said earlier this month that tax collections could drop this year by at least 10% and as much as 25%.

If just a 1% drop works out to about $74 million in lost revenue, simple math suggests a 25% decline amounts to a possible shortfall of $1.85 billion. The state’s rainy day fund of about $400 million would cover maybe six weeks of government expenditures.

“We are worried — very worried — about the state’s funding in the short and long term,” said House Speaker Scott Saiki.

Sen. Donovan Dela Cruz, the chair of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, expressed similar concerns.

“It means that we are going to have to focus on basic needs, and that’s where we would have to have some hard discussions with the House and the governor to make sure we are all on the same page of what those needs are to get a balanced budget,” he said.

In the meantime, even though session is on hold, the Senate special committee on the state’s COVID-19 plans and procedures (of which Dela Cruz is a member) has been meeting several times a week to gather information and ask questions of officials and experts. Though closed to the public, the meetings are livestreamed.

The House’s select committee on COVID-19 has also convened several times. Saiki, who chairs the committee, said Monday’s meeting will consider what criteria must be met to reopen the state, even incrementally. The presenters will include health officials such as Bruce Anderson and economists, including Bonham and Sumner La Croix.

Where All The Money Goes

The Hawaii Constitution requires that the state operate under a two-year budget. That means lawmakers and the governor approved last year the $15.6 billion needed to run government for fiscal year 2020 (ending June 30) and a similar amount in 2021.

About half of that figure each year — roughly $8 billion — is for fixed costs like state employee pensions (currently $1.01 billion), health plans ($1.13 billion) and $862 million for debt service.

Essential services include $2 billion for public schools and libraries, $275 million for public safety and $150 million for the Hawaii Health Systems Corporation.

All of these together — $6.5 billion of the $8 billion in general funds — leave a balance of $1.5 billion for remaining state government programs such as public health monitoring, environmental regulation and regulation of agricultural food production — all of which are needed now during the COVID-19 crisis.

Half of the state’s annual budget is composed of non-general fund revenues, derived from special funds, federal funds, revolving funds and the transit accommodations tax levied on visitor lodging. These monies can’t be used for other purposes unless the Legislature changes the law.

The Ige administration’s budget proposal to the Legislature in December is modified by lawmakers, in no small part based on updated revenue projections. Because of COVID-19, revenues are forecast to drop severely.

Ige Administration

But that other $8 billion for 2021 — the general fund monies — make up the part of the budget that can be tweaked. This is the money that goes to fund the executive, legislative and judicial branches and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs as well as for capital improvement projects and a host of other appropriations.

This year’s $8.1 billion supplemental budget was passed by the House on Feb. 18. It was $300 million less than Ige had requested because some funding for homelessness, affordable housing and other issues were to be funded through separate bills.

Among the bigger-ticket items in House Bill 2200 were $7.7 million to repair Aloha Stadium, $2.3 million to control the coconut rhinoceros beetle and other pests, $2 million to renovate the King Kalakaua Building, $1.2 million for traffic signal maintenance on Hawaii island, $2.1 million for lifeguard services at state parks and $18 million for Maui Health Systems.

Sen. Donovan Dela Cruz at the January press conference when a joint package on cost-of-living issues was unveiled. The COVID-19 catastrophe underscores his argument that the state’s economy badly needs to diversify.

If House Bill 2200 is not passed, all that funding and much, much more will not be approved. The Senate Ways and Means Committee was to have held a public meeting on the measure March 17, the same day the session was halted.

Also on hold is House Bill 2725, for supplemental capital improvement projects totaling more than $4.9 billion. It passed the House March 5 and was set to be heard by WAM on March 17, too.

HB 2725 included $17 million for the modernization of the state finance system, $16 million for the Veterans Affairs Long-term Care Home, $21 million for improvements and replacement facilities for Mokapu Elementary School, $11 million for Kaanapali Beach Restoration and Berm Enhancement, $30 million for design of the Diamond Head concourse extension at the Daniel K. Inouye International Airport and $25 million for minor repairs at community colleges statewide.

Unless the Legislature reconvenes, those bills will not become reality. Same goes for some $160 million in pay raises for public sector unions, as those bills were also placed in limbo in mid-March when legislators went home.

It is not clear if the Legislature will regroup. As it is now in recess, it can resume when it chooses. It can also later call a special session, or the governor can order one.

But Saiki said COVID-19’s social distancing requirements, as long as they are in place, would make it challenging for lawmakers to convene.

“We would have to review the constitutional provisions,” said Saiki. “When Hawaii became a state in 1959, no one contemplated remote voting or attendance.”

Still, Dela Cruz said he hoped to work on the budget and capital improvement bills and the parts of the House-Senate joint package on cost-of-living issues that do not include large funding amounts.

“When we go back we may have to increase the amount of capital improvement projects to get the economy moving and to shore up government,” he said. “That includes infrastructure and maintenance.”

Ultimately, Dela Cruz makes a point that he has been making for years now but today has an urgent relevancy.

“I go back to how we are going to have to come up with new ways to generate revenue,” he said. “It cannot be taxes. So we will have to look at public-private partnerships or reducing liabilities or diversifying the economy with new industries.”

The Governor’s Authority

If the Legislature does not or cannot act, the governor has the authority to do many things. Under emergency powers, for example, he can move around or withhold monies that have already been appropriated for other purposes. He has already ordered departments to restrict spending.

Ige can also shift around funding allocated to major expenditures like education and Medicaid, or adjust the state’s unfunded liabilities for health and pensions. Such actions, though, would very likely be seen as unpalatable.

If the virus somehow dramatically subsides in the near term — say, in May — and the economy begins to return to life, the state could also choose to go with the supplemental budget that was already approved last year.

But the Constitution requires that Hawaii not spend more than it takes in, and so Ige — a former Ways and Means chair — would have to wield a mighty scalpel, likely in consultation with the Legislature.

What the governor cannot do is print money like the federal government, which can pass budgets with deficits and drive up the national debt. Congress and President Trump approved a $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief funding package late last month and $4.4 billion of it is expected to go to Hawaii, nearly $900 million of it to state and county governments in the response to COVID-19.

These estimates are also from the budget that the Ige administration submitted to the Legislature. Lawmakers are very worried that COVID-19 will decimate state revenues and thus the ability to fund government operations.

Last Wednesday Saiki and Senate President Ron Kouchi were part of a press conference on the Capitol’s fifth floor when Ige announced that former Hawaiian Electric executive Alan Oshima will lead state efforts to develop and implement a plan for “economic and community stabilization, recovery and resiliency.”

Because of social distancing, the leaders did not stand side-by-side when speaking to the media as they did in January when — in a rare move — they and other state officials and business leaders said they had agreed to the joint initiative to address Hawaii’s high cost-of-living.

That package of bills included ones allowing a modest increase to the minimum wage, more funds for affordable housing and expansion of affordable preschool programs.

Like the budget, capital improvement plan and pay-raise bills, of course, those initiatives are also up in the air and perhaps moot. Saiki said the minimum wage bill, for example, was very unlikely to become a reality this year when so many business are collapsing. Dela Cruz agreed.

And yet, the display of working together was real and suggested that Hawaii’s top leaders had found a new way to come together despite their many differences.

That same solidarity seemed evident on Wednesday when Ige said, “There is no time for personal agendas and self-interest — Hawaii is one community, one family. We need to work together. This is the only way we are going to survive.”

Star-Advertiser poll: 73% agree with SB2774 to relocate Red Hill fuel by 2028

Yesterday, the Star-Advertiser’s Big Q Poll had a question on SB2774- a bill we STRONGLY SUPPORT that would shut down the Red Hill fuel tanks and require the relocation of the Navy’s fuel away from drinking water resources by 2028.

454 of 621 responses, or 73% of those polled, either agreed or strongly agreed with this bill:

Although this is not a scientific poll (view the results here), it reinforces the widespread support for relocating the Navy’s fuel. This support was also evident during the November 2019 public meeting in Moanalua, in which hundreds of residents filled the Moanalua Middle School cafeteria and around 50 people public testified in opposition to the Navy’s current plan for Red Hill.

SB2774 has already received over 100 pages in testimony in its first hearing and now heads to the Senate CPH committee. Notably, our State Department of Health supports the bill, agreeing that in the long term, the Navy’s fuel should not remain in WWII era tanks that sit 100 feet above O‘ahu’s primary drinking water aquifer.

Star-Advertiser: Moving fuel tanks the best option

Link to original article here: https://www.staradvertiser.com/2020/02/13/editorial/our-view/editorial-moving-fuel-tanks-the-best-option/

EDITORIAL | OUR VIEW

In January 2014, the Navy reported a 27,000-gallon leak at Tank 5 in its underground Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage that it later said was the result of poorly performed work by a contractor and the military’s own insufficient oversight.

The leak at the massive and aging facility, which can store up to 250 million gallons of petroleum for ships and jets, rightly continues to alarm the Honolulu Board of Water Supply (BWS), environmentalists and others as 18 operational tanks sit just 100 above Oahu’s sole source of potable water aquifer.

In the incident’s aftermath, the Navy entered into a legal agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the state Department of Health, sorting through several options for structural improve­- ments and upgrades at the World War II-era facility.

But with the EPA and DOH not yet signing off on a Navy proposal, state lawmakers are now weighing Senate Bill 2774, which aims to altogether scrap underground fixes at the site. The measure should be supported as it serves as the best option to date for protecting Oahu’s groundwater from contamination.

SB 2774 would ban, effective Jan. 1, 2028, operation of an “underground storage system with a capacity of 100,000 gallons or more,” in areas specified by the state, including Red Hill.

In testimony responding to the bill, Navy Region Hawaii asserted that ongoing testing, conducted by the Navy and BWS, shows that water drawn from the aquifer is meeting government-set safety standards, and stressed the importance of the gravity-fed funneling of fuel to Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam.

Written testimony included an excerpt from a letter issued by U.S. Indo-Pacific Command’s Major General Susan A. Davidson, who described Red Hill as a “strategic reserve” that holds a “significant percentage of petroleum war reserves required to defend national security interests in the Indo-Pacific region.” She added that there’s “no comparable U.S.-owned facility.”

While there’s no disputing the need for military fuel storage, unlimited use of Red Hill’s current site should not be an option. Studies document more than 30 leaks dating back to late 1940s, with the one reported in 2014 ranking as the largest.

The facility’s tanks — each big enough to encapsulate Aloha Tower — are buried above groundwater that’s tapped for drinking water, flowing to faucets from Moanalua to Hawaii Kai. The tanks are structurally sound today, but a large-scale leak of any sort could be ruinous. Cleanup could take decades or be deemed cost-prohibitive. Then what?

In November, Navy officials proposed a fix that ranked among the most protective and expensive of on-site options: installation of another layer of tank protection — a carbon steel secondary containment system. However, due to the size and unique structure of the tanks, the technology needed for such an upgrade is not readily available today.

While awaiting a tech catch-up, the Navy wants the EPA and the DOH to sign off on what’s likely the least-protective on-site option under consideration: sticking with the facility’s single-walled steel tank liners while adopting an improved program for cleaning, inspecting and repairing active tanks.

Should technology fail to emerge, the Navy would then remove all fuel from storage around the year 2045 — when the tanks would be about 100 years old. With the threat of tainted water looming larger as the facility ages, that’s too long to wait.

Testifying this week in support of SB 2774’s protection, Ernest Lau, BWS manager and chief engineer, said: “Our drinking water aquifer is the only one of its kind and cannot be replaced.” Red Hill can — and should — be replaced by a new facility in a location that poses no threat to the aquifer, nature’s gift.

Civil Beat: What Is Hawaii Government Doing About Sea Level Rise?

By Claire Caulfield   / About 10 hours ago

The state predicts sea level rise will cause at least $19 billion in damage in the next 80 years and Brad Stubbs, a Civil Beat reader who lives in Waialua, wanted to know how the government is responding to rising waters.

“How are we going to ensure that these properties, whether public or private, are receiving the support that they need?” he asked. Episode 10 of “Are We Doomed? And Other Burning Environmental Questions” put his question to government officials.

“I would say the government here has more of a plan than most governments elsewhere,” said Josh Stanbro, the chief resilience officer for the City and County of Honolulu.

But there is no set game plan, despite the fact that a 2017 report urged immediate preparation for 3.2 feet of sea level rise by 2060 and the state has already lost more than 13 miles of beach.

“While that might feel unsatisfying for people that are immediately looking for an answer, we also recognize that context matters,” said Matthew Gonser, the coastal and water program manager for the Honolulu Office of Climate Change, Sustainability and Resiliency.

Gonser said the county is working on eight different infrastructure and growth plans for different parts of Oahu. The plans will anticipate predicted sea level rise and will be submitted to the Honolulu City Council for approval in the next few years.

Sam Lemmo, with the Hawaii Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands, said he’s not too worried about public infrastructure. While it might be expensive to move a road or water treatment plant, the government has the authority to do so. Private property, on the other hand, presents unique challenges when planning for sea level rise.

“The scale of it might be so grand that government may not be able to help them in any significant way,” he said.

Lemmo said he’s been investigating the possibility of tapping into funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to buy out homeowners who will lose their houses.

“We don’t tend to have those big giant, horrific, catastrophic events and so that seems to be the trigger for getting federal interest,” he said.

Twenty bills addressing sea level rise were introduced in the first week of the 2020 legislative session. While many are similar to bills that failed to pass last session, this year 36 lawmakers formed an environmental caucus, and adapting to sea level rise is one of their top priorities.

“It was disappointing to see the lack of progress at the state level last year,” Stanbro said. “We hope that the state Legislature takes the lead this session and really lays out the policy framework that will help us at the county level navigate away from the climate crisis.”

Changing Hawaii’s Coastal Zone Management Policy

House Bill 1848, House Bill 2194 and Senate Bill 2060 seek to change the state’s coastal zone management policy to impose new restrictions on private and public construction near the coastline.

“HB 1848 would clarify that county permitting authorities can exercise discretion over whether they approve things like seawalls and shoreline hardening measures, meaning that if they don’t think that is the best adaptation option for a particular area they can deny the permit application,” said Rep. Nicole Lowen, the bill’s sponsor.

The bills would also double the minimum shoreline setback from 20 to 40 feet and address flanking, or erosion that occurs near seawalls and other shoreline hardening projects.

“It’s like a domino effect,” Stanbro said. “If you put up one wall and it’s going to accelerate the erosion on either side of that wall, and then that’s gonna make the next door neighbor put up their wall and pretty soon you’re diving off of six-foot concrete walls onto hard rock rather than onto beaches.”

A University of Hawaii study on the northeast shore of Oahu found that 45% of shoreline hardening measures, like a seawall, were constructed in response to adjacent hardening.

Current real estate law requires sellers to notify potential buyers if the property will be affected by things like noise pollution from commercial airplanes or military activities. Five bills at the Capitol seek to add a mandatory disclosure if the property will be affected by sea level rise.

House Bill 2383 would notify potential buyers that vulnerable coastal properties may one day become public property due to erosion and sea level rise, since beaches are considered public trust land in the state. A similar bill in the Senate would notify potential buyers about coastal erosion.

Limiting New Coastal Projects

House Bill 1611 would prohibit the Board of Land and Natural Resources from approving long-term projects in areas that could be affected by sea level rise. While the bill is written to address many types of construction near the coastline, the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Cynthia Thielen, said she had the controversial rail project in mind when writing the measure.

“What on earth are we doing allowing the city to build a rail along a route … where seven of the stations will be subject to flooding,” she said last week. Thielen is one of five Republicans in the 51-member House.

Another bill, which House Speaker Scott Saiki introduced by request of another party, would increase the gasoline tax by 5 cents to “preserve and enhance” wildlife habitats affected by rising sea levels.

Five of the bills would set aside funds for the Hawaii Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Commission to create specific sea level rise adaptation plans.

Lowen, who sponsored one of the bills, said the measure would allow the state to respond quickly when infrastructure is damaged by sea level rise.

“If we can anticipate that some roads will be impacted by chronic flooding or erosion, then we can start now to plan an alternative,” she said. “Then, when the time comes that a flood or high tide washes out a road, instead of rebuilding it exactly as it was, as we’ve done in the past, we will be ready to reroute it and rebuild it in a more resilient way that accounts for the impacts of climate change.”

The bills would require the commission to submit its recommendations to the Legislature by 2022.

Another bill focuses solely on urban Honolulu and Waikiki, and would create a pilot program to defend the shoreline between the Honolulu International Airport and Diamond Head State Monument from sea level rise and natural disasters like hurricanes.

House Bill 2207 calls for an assessment on the cost of continuing to maintain a crumbling road on the North Shore. Earlier this month part of the highway in Hauula collapsed into the ocean. A separate bill would require the Department of Transportation to develop a long-term plan to address erosion along Kamehameha Highway on the Koolauloa Coast.

“Are We Doomed? And Other Burning Environmental Questions” is funded in part by grants from the Environmental Funders Group of the Hawaii Community Foundation and the Frost Family Foundation.