First Crossover Bill List

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The Sierra Club of Hawai‘i is monitoring hundreds of environmental bills in the 2020 session, but we are focusing on a few key issues relating to climate change adaptation, replacing dirty energy with clean renewable sources, and protecting soil, freshwater resources, and lands. We have testified on 47 bills since the legislative session started. March 5th marks first crossover deadline where bills still alive “crossover” to the opposite chamber, meaning House bills move to the Senate and Senate bills move to the House. Below is an update on our priority bills.

Bills that have survived crossover:

Sea Level Rise:

  • HB1878, SB2670, SB2671 (Support) - Requires mandatory seller/purchaser disclosures in real estate transactions within sea level rise exposure areas to ensure transparency of the risks of sea level rise.

  • HB549, SB393, SB2060 (Support) - Amends Chapter 205A - Hawai‘i’s Coastal Zone Management Act to protect beaches and help prevent seawalls.

Energy:

  • HB1864 (Support) - Fixes the calculation of Hawai‘i’s Renewable Portfolio Standards to more accurately reflect progress towards Hawai‘i’s clean energy goals.

  • HB1934 (Support) - Develops a plan to increase jobs aligned with the State’s transition to a clean energy economy.

  • HB2657 (Support) - Ensure that Hawai‘i’s last coal-fired power plant closes in 2022 to make Hawai‘i “Coal Free by 2023.” 

  • HB2699 (Support) - Establishes 100% clean ground transportation goals by 2045.

  • SB1289 (Support) - Requires solar panels to be installed on new home development projects.

Water:

  • SB2828 (Oppose) - Amends the State Water Code to specify that fire safety is a beneficial use of water, potentially enabling the “waterbanking” of public trust resources.

Soils:

  • HB2167, SB2704 (Support) - Establishes a cover crop reimbursement pilot program in the Dept. of Agriculture to offset farmer costs of purchasing and planting cover crops, which improves soil health and decreases erosion and runoff

  • SB2531 (Support) - Increases funding to the Dept. of Land and Natural Resources’ State Tree Nursery to promote tree stocks that provide agricultural and soil health benefits.

Lands and Development:

  • HB2542, SB2620, SB3104 (Comments) - Weakens the authority of Land Use Commission in rezoning agricultural lands for “affordable” housing development.

  • HB2035, SB2812 (Oppose) - Requires the Dept. of Land and Natural Resources to transfer 93,000 acres of watershed forest “pasture lands” to the Dept. of Agriculture.

  • SB3103 (Oppose) - Establishes a School Facilities Agency and whose projects are exempt from many county and state laws including Chapter 343 environmental protection and Chapter 6e historic preservation.

Bills that have not made crossover deadline and are dead for this year:

Bills we supported:

  • HB2160- Creates a special fund for the Dept. of Land and Natural Resources’ State Tree Nursery to promote tree stocks that provide agricultural and soil health benefits.

    • Explanation: Bill was not heard by Rep. Luke in FIN

  • HB2154- Prohibit the harvesting of aquatic life for commercial aquarium purposes to protect reef ecosystems.

    • Explanation: Bill was deferred by Rep. Lowen in EEP and Rep. Yamane in WLH

  • HB2194- Updating Hawai‘i’s Coastal Zone Management Act to protect beaches and help prevent seawalls.

    • Explanation: Bill was deferred by Rep. Lowen in EEP and Rep. Yamane in WLH

  • SB2366- Ensures that Hawai‘i’s last coal-fired power plant closes in 2022 to make Hawai‘i “Coal Free by 2023”

    • Explanation: Bill was not heard by Sen. Wakai in EET

  • SB2774- Protecting O‘ahu’s drinking water from the Navy’s Red Hill fuel tanks.

    • Explanation: Bill was not heard by Sen. Baker in CPH

Bills we opposed:

  • HB2677- Extending the issuance of revocable permits to divert stream water and allowing for direct negotiation of water leases.

    • Explanation: Bill was not heard by Rep. Luke in FIN

  • HB2646- Amends the State Water Code to specify that fire safety is a beneficial use of water, potentially enabling the “waterbanking” of public trust resources.

    • Explanation: Bill was not heard by Rep. Luke in FIN

  • HB1821 and SB2810 - Severely restrict the public’s access to declaratory court decisions.

    • Explanation: Bill was deferred by Rep. Lee in JDC and Sen. Rhoads in JUD.

First Lateral bill updates

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The Sierra Club of Hawai‘i is monitoring hundreds of environmental bills in the 2020 session, but we are focusing on a few key issues relating to climate change mitigation and adaptation, replacing dirty energy with clean renewable sources, and protecting soil, freshwater resources, and lands. We just passed the first lateral deadline, here’s a breakdown of what on our priority list is still moving:

Sea Level Rise:

  1. Requires mandatory seller/purchaser disclosures in real estate transactions within sea level rise exposure areas (Support): HB1878, SB2670, SB2671

  2. Amends Chapter 205A - Hawai‘i’s Coastal Zone Management Act to protect beaches and give guidance for county planning (Support): SB2060.

Water:

  1. Protecting O‘ahu’s drinking water from the Navy’s Red Hill fuel tanks (Support): SB2774

  2. Extending the issuance of revocable permits to divert stream water and allowing for direct negotiation of water leases (Oppose): HB2677

Energy and Transportation:

  1. Ensure that Hawai‘i’s last coal-fired power plant closes in 2022 to make Hawai‘i “Coal Free by 2023” (Support): HB2657.

  2. Establishing 100% clean transportation goals by 2045 (Support): HB2699.

Healthy Soils (O‘ahu Group priority):

  1. Cover crop reimbursement pilot program (Support): HB2167, SB2704.

  2. DOFAW tree stock bills (Support): HB2160, SB2531.

Land Use:

  1. Weakens the authority of Land Use Commission in rezoning agricultural lands for “affordable” housing development (Oppose): SB2620, SB3104, HB2542.

Initial High Priority Bills

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The Sierra Club of Hawai‘i will be monitoring hundreds of environmental bills in the 2020 session, but we are focusing on a few key issues relating to climate change mitigation and adaptation, replacing dirty energy with clean renewable sources, and protecting freshwater resources. We are also supporting a handful of bills at the state level that have been identified as top issues by our four county groups. Here is a list of our high priority issues and correlating bills:

Sea Level Rise: Sea levels in Hawaii could rise more than 3.2 feet throughout the century. As sea level rises, coastal buffers, habitats, and resources will be greatly impacted and infrastructure and residence may no longer exist along the coast. The state estimates this would result in $19 billion in loss of private land and structures. The state needs to start planning now for the projected impacts of sea level rise to minimize costs and impacts on coastal communities and ecosystems. For this reason, the Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi will be prioritizing bills that:

  1. Require mandatory seller/purchaser disclosures in real estate transactions within sea level rise exposure areas: 

  2. Amend Chapter 205A - Hawai‘i’s Coastal Zone Management Act to protect beaches and give guidance for county planning: 

Water: From our streams to aquifer systems, we must ensure the protection of our freshwater resources. Hawaiʻi’s streams, in their original state, hold enough water to support the ecosystems—mauka to makai—that rely on them, such as subsistence farmers, cultural practices, renewable energy, and large scale agriculture. Likewise, with climate change and decreased rainfall, we must ensure our precious drinking water is protected. For these reasons, the Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi will be prioritizing bills that:

  1. Uphold state laws, ensuring water is first used for the public good before used for private profit. Prevent efforts to allow the continued use of temporary permits for stream diversions:

  2. Protect O‘ahu’s drinking water from the Navy’s Red Hill fuel tanks: 

Clean Energy: Hawai‘i is already leading the nation with our goal of producing 100% of our electricity from clean energy by 2045, but we must do more to ensure the transition to clean energy is accelerated and equitable for all. We will be supporting initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions produced from the burning of fossil fuels and urging a transition from dirty to clean fuels. For these reasons, the Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi will be prioritizing bills that: 

  1. Ensure that Hawai‘i’s last coal-fired power plant closes in 2022: 

Group Priorities: A Honolulu-based State Capitol provides challenges to our neighbor island group members and volunteers, who need to travel to O‘ahu to directly interact with legislators and advocate on issues most critical to their island. This session we will be prioritizing issues that were identified as important to the Sierra Club’s four county groups. As a result, the Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi will be working on the following issues:

  1. Kaua‘i Group: Require greater setbacks for shoreline development to protect beaches and coastal resources:

    •  Potentially Chapter 205A Coastal Zone Management bills, listed above

    •  Potentially SB2381- Relating to shoreline setbacks

  2. O‘ahu Group: Create and fund programs to support farming practices that will develop healthy soils on Hawai‘i’s agricultural lands, both good for agriculture and carbon sequestration efforts: 

  3. Maui Group: No specific policies were identified, but the Chapter is already prioritizing climate change bills, which were the group’s top concern.

  4. Hawai‘i Island Group: Prohibit the harvesting of aquatic life for commercial aquarium purposes to protect reef ecosystems:

    • Commercial aquarium fish trade ban: HB2154

  5. Waste bills: Kaua‘i and Hawai‘i Island groups support policies to promote source reduction and zero waste principles to prevent waste rather than manage it after the fact. Since there are so many waste reduction bills - from plastics, to recycling, to food waste and composting - we will be leaning on partner organizations and lead volunteers to assist in this area.

We are a volunteer-driven organization that relies on our members and supporters to help inform our policy positions and increase our impact at the state legislature. As such, this bill list is dynamic and will be changing as bills progress throughout legislative session.

We invite you to engage with us. If you would like to have your voice heard on these and other important environmental justice issues, please sign this petition to join our new CapitolWatch email list so you will receive updates and action alerts sent directly to your inbox.

Happy session!