Please Protect our Public Lands! - OPPOSE HB1750 & HB2165
/2/15 update:
Both bills have been deferred and are done for this session. Mahalo nui to everyone that submitted testimony!
Please submit testimony to protect our public lands! Two bad bills that may impact our public lands for generations at a time have been scheduled for hearings next Tuesday, February 15.
Date & time of hearings
HB1750: Tuesday, February 15, 2022 at 10:45 a.m. before the House Housing Committee and Energy and Environmental Protection Committee.
HB2165: Tuesday, February 15, 2022 at 8:30 a.m. before the House Water and Land Committee.
Bills
HB1750 Relating to Affordable Housing Development: This bill would exempt “affordable housing” projects on public lands from environmental review (i.e. environmental impact statement or assessment) requirements.
HB2165 Relating to Disposition of Public Lands by Negotiation: This bill would allow the BLNR to issue long-term leases for any of its commercial, industrial, or resort lands, without complying with public auction requirements.
Why this is bad
HB1750: An exemption from our environmental review law for housing projects on public lands would take away an important mechanism for public transparency and input in the development of these lands. This in turn could lead to significant, irreparable, and avoidable impacts to the public’s environmental, socioeconomic, and cultural interests in our limited public land base.
HB2165: (NOTE: This measure is the companion to SB3133, a bad bill that passed out of the Senate Water and Land Committee on February 8). Public land leases provide critical funds for the DLNR to steward our lands and waters, and a percentage of certain lease revenues should also be set aside and transferred to OHA and DHHL for public land trust and former sugarcane lands, respectively. Direct negotiation authority for 55+ year leases could lock in low lease revenues from our most lucrative public lands for generations at a time, undermining the protection of our ‘āina and our obligations to the Hawaiian community.
Notably, a 2019 audit highlighted ways that the Land Division would be able to maximize its revenues from commercial leases, including by increasing its marketing capacity and expertise, and moving away from ground leases and using space leases instead. This measure would potentially let the Land Division stick to the status quo (as it says it prefers to do) rather than seek ways to improve their approach to leasing public lands, compromising the DLNR’s ability to care for our environment and undermining the state’s obligation to the Hawaiian community.
Sample testimony
HB1750:
Aloha Chairs Nakamura and Lowen, Vice Chairs Hashimoto and Marten, and Members of the Housing and Energy & Environmental Protection Committees,
I am testifying in OPPOSITION to HB1750, which may lead to significant and avoidable impacts to the public interest from the development of our public land base.
The public has a wide range of interests in our public lands, which are held in trust for present and future generations. Our environmental review law accordingly ensures that government decisionmakers carefully consider the environmental, socioeconomic, and cultural impacts of proposed uses of public lands, and provides opportunities for other agencies, experts, cultural practitioners, and members of the public to also review and provide input on such uses. This bill’s proposed exemption from the environmental review law for “affordable housing” projects on public lands may result in decisions that don’t fully consider the potential impacts from such projects, and lead to significant, irreparable, and unnecessary harms that could have otherwise been avoided through more informed decisionmaking.
Therefore, I respectfully urge the Committees to HOLD this measure.
Mahalo nui,
[your name]
HB2165:
Aloha Chair Tarnas, Vice Chair Branco, and members of the Water & Land Committee,
I strongly OPPOSE HB2165, which would undermine the Department of Land and Natural Resources’ ability to steward our public lands and natural and cultural resources, as well as the state’s obligations to the Hawaiian community under the public land trust and the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act. This measure would allow politically and financially powerful entities to negotiate directly with the BLNR for long-term commercial, industrial, or resort leases, without the public transparency or accountability required under current appraisal and public auction requirements. As a result, leases may fail to sufficiently generate much-needed revenues from our most lucrative public lands, impacting the DLNR’s ability to manage and protect our watersheds, streams, cultural sites, and other public trust resources, and reducing the amount of pro-rata funds that would otherwise be transferred to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands – for generations at a time. Accordingly, I respectfully urge your Committee to HOLD HB2165.
Mahalo nui,
[your name]
Testimony instructions:
Register for a capitol website account if you havenʻt yet (youʻll need to confirm your registration by responding to an automated email)
Sign in to capitol.hawaii.gov with your registration information and click the orange "Testimony" button.
Enter the bill number ("HB1750" or “HB2165”) where it says "Enter Bill or Measure."
Input your information and your written testimony, and where it says "How will you be testifying?" make sure to check the bubble up to testify remotely via Zoom if you can!
If you are testifying via Zoom, sign back into your account on the capitol website three hours before the hearing and click on the orange "Testimony" button again; on the left hand side youʻll be able to scroll down and there will be a Zoom link(s) next to the bill you would like to testify on (for more information see here).