OPPOSE HB826 HD2: Defend Our Food Security, Public Trust, and Public Interest

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HB826 HD2, which would fast-track development of up to 100 acres of agricultural and rural lands at a time, is being heard by the Senate Water and Land and Housing Committees on Tuesday, March 18 at 1:05pm in room 225 (watch online here). 

Sample testimony for HB826 HD2

Aloha Chairs Inouye and Chang, Vice Chairs Elefante and Hashimoto, and members of the committees, 

My name is [Your name] and I strongly OPPOSE HB826 HD2, which would allow counties to side-step the Land Use Commission, and authorize residential development on up to 100 acres of non-urban land at a time - severely and needlessly compromising the rights and needs of our present and future generations.

The state Land Use Commission (LUC) has decades of experience balancing the urbanization of our non-urban lands with our future food security, natural and cultural resource protection, Native Hawaiian rights, climate resilience, and even job creation and affordable housing needs. It does this using a time-tested, objective, and transparent process that ensures a vetted factual record, due process for any impacted rights, and an explicit consideration of other critical public interests.

County planning commissions lack the LUC’s expertise and institutional memory, and do not utilize the LUC’s sophisticated “contested case hearing” process when rendering land use decisions. 

Accordingly, allowing county planning commissions to approve 100-acre development projects on non-urban lands could lead to less-than-informed and potentially biased decisionmaking, threatening needless and irreversible harm to Hawaiʻi’s lands, water, food security, economy, and social fabric. With the uncertainties of climate destabilization we must protect, and not undermine, these foundations of resilience for ourselves, as well as our children, grandchildren, and the future generations who will call these islands home.

I urge you to HOLD HB826 HD2.

Sincerely,
[Your name]

Testimony instructions

  1. Register for a capitol website account if you haven’t yet (youʻll need to confirm your registration by responding to an automated email)

  2. Sign in to capitol.hawaii.gov with your registration information and click the "Submit Testimony" button.

  3. Enter "HB826" where it says "Enter Bill or Measure."

  4. Input your information and your written testimony, select your testimony option(s)—in-person + written, remotely + written, written only. Please consider providing verbal testimony (in-person or remotely) if you are able! 

    1. Note: Virtual testimony option may be disabled 24 hours before the hearing.

  5. If you are testifying via Zoom, be sure to review these instructions (page 4)

OPPOSE HB661 HD1 + SB1074 SD1: Uphold Environmental Review Laws

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February 28 update

SB1074 SD1, which would allow private entities to continue previously unlawfully-authorized actions without first fulfilling the requirements of our environmental review law, was unfortunately passed by the Senate Judiciary Committee, although with a number of amendments to mitigate its potential impacts, by narrowing the actions that could be continued without environmental review, and placing a one year limit on such actions (subject to extension by a court). Mahalo nui to the more than 199 individuals and organizations who submitted testimony in opposition, and special thanks to Senator Gabbard for his vote with reservations.

HB661 HD1, a similar bill to SB1074, was also passed by the House Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs Committee. The bill was also amended to limit what types of actions could be continued while environmental review is pending. Thank you also to the 139 individuals and organizations who submitted testimony opposing this measure.

There will be more opportunities to defeat these bills that put our natural and cultural resources at risk—stay tuned!⁠

February 25 update

Two remaining problematic bills, HB661 HD1 and SB1074 SD1, that would allow private entities to continue previously, unlawfully-authorized actions without first fulfilling the requirements of our environmental review law, are being considered this week. Please take a moment to submit testimony in opposition to these bills. Sample testimony and instructions below.

HB661 HD1 will be heard on Thursday, February 27 at 2pm by the House Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs Committee and SB1074 SD1 will be heard on Wednesday, February 26 at 9:40am by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Sample testimony for HB661:

Aloha Chair Tarnas, Vice Chair Poepoe, and members of the Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs,

My name is [Your name] and I strongly oppose HB661 HD1, which would allow a vast range of illegally authorized activities to continue, potentially indefinitely, without a required consideration of their environmental, cultural, and social impacts to our islands and our present and future generations.

Our environmental review law allows decisionmakers and the public to make more fully-informed decisions that can balance and mitigate potential long-term impacts to the public interest from certain proposed activities, before those activities and their impacts are allowed to proceed. This ensures prudent planning while reducing conflict, minimizing adverse outcomes, and safeguarding the health and well-being of present and future generations. 

Unfortunately, the failure of certain departments to comply with this law before authorizing certain actions - such as permitting the take of an unlimited number of of ecologically critical marine specimens for the aquarium trade, or the decades-long dewatering of streams in East Maui - has resulted in severe and in some cases irreparable ecological, cultural, social, and economic harms that could and should have been avoided through the prudent planning embodied in our environmental review law.

By allowing illegally authorized activities to continue while environmental review challenges are resolved - something that has taken literal decades in the dewatering of East Maui’s streams - this bill would turn our environmental review process into an afterthought, legitimizing unlawful and irresponsible agency practices that have inflicted and that will continue to inflict tremendous generational harms and injustices upon our islands and communities.

I urge you to HOLD HB661 HD1.

Sincerely,
[Your name]

Sample testimony for SB1074:

Aloha Chair Rhoads, Vice Chair Gabbard, and members of the Senate Judiciary Committee,

My name is [Your name] and I STRONGLY OPPOSE SB1074 SD1, which would allow illegally authorized activities to be continued, potentially indefinitely, without a consideration of their environmental, cultural, and social impacts to our islands and our present and future generations.

This measure puts the cart before the horse when it comes to environmental planning and protection. Our environmental review law works by allowing decisionmakers to make more fully-informed decisions that can balance and mitigate potential long-term impacts to the public interest from certain proposed activities, before those activities and their impacts are allowed to proceed. This ensures prudent planning while reducing conflict, minimizing adverse outcomes, and safeguarding the health and well-being of present and future generations. 

This bill would do the opposite, allowing activities that have been previously, but unlawfully, authorized without environmental review, to continue while environmental review is pending. As we have seen in cases such as East Maui, where stream diversions by a politically connected plantation were allowed to continue for nearly 20 years after an environmental assessment had been ordered, years’ or decades’ worth of devastating yet potentially avoidable impacts could occur without the benefit of environmental review, should this measure be passed into law.

By allowing illegally authorized activities to continue while environmental review compliance is pending - something that has taken literal decades in the dewatering of East Maui’s streams - this bill would turn our environmental review process into an afterthought, legitimizing unlawful and irresponsible agency practices that have inflicted and that will continue to inflict tremendous generational harms and injustices upon our islands and communities.

I urge you to HOLD SB1074 SD1.

Sincerely,
[Your name]

Testimony instructions:

  1. Register for a capitol website account if you haven’t yet (youʻll need to confirm your registration by responding to an automated email)

  2. Sign in to capitol.hawaii.gov with your registration information and click the "Submit Testimony" button.

  3. Enter "HB661/SB1074" where it says "Enter Bill or Measure."

  4. Input your information and your written testimony (no oral testimony will be accepted)

  5. Be sure to share this with your friends and networks!

February 13 update

Good news! HB123 was deferred by the House Energy & Environmental Protection and Water & Land Committees, HB658 was deferred by the House Energy & Environmental Protection Committee, and SB22 was deferred by the Senate Water & Land and Agriculture & Environment Committees—these measures are essentially defeated for this session! Mahalo nui to all that testified on these bills.

Unfortunately, HB661 was passed out of the House Energy & Environmental Protection and Water & Land Committees with amendments. Mahalo nui to everyone that testified on this measure and special thank you to Reps Iwamoto and Poepoe for their no votes and Reps Belatti, Shimizu, and Souza for their votes with reservations.

SB1074, a bill similar to HB661, was also passed out of the of the Senate Committees on Water & Land and Agriculture & Environment. Mahalo nui to everyone that testified on this measure and special thank you to Sens Gabbard, Richards, and Rhoads for their votes with reservations.

There will be more opportunities to defeat these bills that put our natural and cultural resources at risk—stay tuned!

February 10 update

SB1074, similar to HB661, would allow a vast range of illegally authorized activities to continue, potentially indefinitely, without a consideration of their environmental, cultural, and social impacts to our islands and our present and future generations. This measure is scheduled to be heard in the Senate Committees on Water and Land and Agriculture and Environment on Wednesday, February 12 at 1:05pm in room 229 (watch online here).

Please take a moment to submit testimony in OPPOSITION to SB1074, in order to uphold Hawaiʻi’s critical environmental review process. Sample testimony and instructions below. 

Sample testimony for SB1074

Aloha Chairs Inouye and Gabbard, Vice Chairs Elefante and Richards, and members of the Water and Land and Agriculture and Environment Committees, 

My name is [Your name] and I strongly oppose SB1074, which would allow a vast range of illegally authorized activities to continue, potentially indefinitely, without a required consideration of their environmental, cultural, and social impacts to our islands and our present and future generations.

Our environmental review law allows decisionmakers and the public to make more fully-informed decisions that can balance and mitigate potential long-term impacts to the public interest from certain proposed activities, before those activities and their impacts are allowed to proceed. This ensures prudent planning while reducing conflict, minimizing adverse outcomes, and safeguarding the health and well-being of present and future generations. 

Unfortunately, the failure of certain departments to comply with this law before authorizing certain actions - such as permitting the take of an unlimited number of of ecologically critical marine specimens for the aquarium trade, or the decades-long dewatering of streams in East Maui - has resulted in severe and in some cases irreparable ecological, cultural, social, and economic harms that could and should have been avoided through the prudent planning embodied in our environmental review law.

By allowing illegally authorized activities to continue while environmental review challenges are resolved - something that has taken literal decades in the dewatering of East Maui’s streams - this bill would turn our environmental review process into an afterthought, legitimizing unlawful and irresponsible agency practices that have inflicted and that will continue to inflict tremendous generational harms and injustices upon our islands and communities.

I urge you to HOLD SB1074.

Sincerely,
[Your name]

SB22, similar to HB123, would allow the Department of Land and Natural Resources to evade any assessment of the environmental impacts of its fishery management decisions - including decisions that may open up our ocean resources to unmitigated commercial exploitation. This measure is also scheduled to be heard in the Senate Committees on Water and Land and Agriculture and Environment on Wednesday, February 12 at 1:05pm in room 229 (watch online here).

Please take a moment to submit testimony in OPPOSITION to SB22 to protect Hawaiʻi’s fisheries and by extension, the ocean environment that is a foundation of our way of life. Sample testimony and instructions below. 

Sample testimony for SB22

Aloha Chairs Inouye and Gabbard, Vice Chairs Elefante and Richards, and members of the Water and Land and Agriculture and Environment Committees, 

My name is [Your name] and I strongly oppose SB22, which would allow the Department of Land and Natural Resources to evade any assessment of the environmental impacts of its fishery management decisions - including decisions that may open up our ocean resources to unmitigated commercial exploitation.

Our environmental review law allows decisionmakers and the public to make more fully-informed decisions that can balance and mitigate potential long-term impacts to the public interest from certain proposed activities, before those activities and their impacts are allowed to proceed. This ensures prudent planning while reducing conflict, minimizing adverse outcomes, and safeguarding the health and well-being of present and future generations. 

Unfortunately, the Department of Land and Natural Resources has a long and notorious history of turning a blind eye to its critical statutory and public trust responsibilities, such as by authorizing a fishery program that permits the take of an unlimited amount of marine life for aquarium purposes, without any environmental review. This measure would not only legitimize this longstanding practice that has been affirmed as illegal by the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court, but excuse the department from its environmental review responsibilities for similar fisheries-related actions with potentially deleterious ecological, cultural, recreational, climate resilience, and economic impacts.  

This bill would turn our environmental review process into an afterthought, legitimizing illegal agency practices that have inflicted and that will continue to inflict potentially irreparable harms to our marine life and the vast public interest in our ocean environment.

I urge you to HOLD SB22.

Sincerely,
[Your name]

Testimony instructions

  1. Register for a capitol website account if you haven’t yet (youʻll need to confirm your registration by responding to an automated email)

  2. Sign in to capitol.hawaii.gov with your registration information and click the "Submit Testimony" button.

  3. Enter "SB1074/SB22" where it says "Enter Bill or Measure."

  4. Input your information and your written testimony, select your testimony option(s)—in-person + written, remotely + written, written only. Please consider providing verbal testimony (in-person or remotely) if you are able! 
    *Note: Virtual testimony option may be disabled 24 hours before the hearing.

  5. If you are testifying via Zoom, be sure to review these instructions (page 4)

HB661, HB123, and HB658 Bill Background

Our environmental review laws help to safeguard our native ecosystems, cultural sites, public health, economy, and quality of life from unintended and avoidable impacts, by ensuring that government decisionmakers consider impacts to these and other vital public interests in actions involving state or county lands or funds (among other specified circumstances), as well as ways these impacts might be mitigated. These reviews enable informed decisions that balance and mitigate long-term impacts on our environment, culture, and society - saving the state from immeasurable social, ecological, economic, and other impacts. 

Three measures, HB661, HB123, and HB658, would seek to end-run recent Hawai‘i court rulings on the Department of Land and Natural Resources’ failure to abide by our environmental review laws, and in the process, open the door to the continued rubber-stamping of commercial and other activities, without considering their environmental impacts. These bills all have hearings on Tuesday, February 11, with HB661 and HB123 scheduled for 9:15am before the Energy & Environmental Protection and Water and Land Committees in room 325 (viewable online here) and HB658 scheduled for 10:15am before the Energy & Environmental Protection Committee in room 325 (viewable online here). Please take a moment to OPPOSE these measures - sample testimony below.

Sample testimony for HB661 (see below for testimony submission instructions):

Aloha Chair Lowen, Chair Chair Hashem, Vice Chair Perruso, Vice Chair Lamosao, and Members of the Committees,

My name is [Your name] and I strongly oppose HB661, which would allow a vast range of illegally authorized activities to continue, potentially indefinitely, without a required consideration of their environmental, cultural, and social impacts to our islands and our present and future generations.

Our environmental review law allows decisionmakers and the public to make more fully-informed decisions that can balance and mitigate potential long-term impacts to the public interest from certain proposed activities, before those activities and their impacts are allowed to proceed. This ensures prudent planning while reducing conflict, minimizing adverse outcomes, and safeguarding the health and well-being of present and future generations. 

Unfortunately, the failure of certain departments to comply with this law before authorizing certain actions - such as in the take of an unlimited number of of ecologically critical marine specimens for the aquarium trade, or the decades-long dewatering of streams in East Maui - has resulted in severe and in some cases irreparable ecological, cultural, social, and economic harms that could and should have been avoided through the prudent planning embodied in our environmental review law.

By allowing illegally authorized activities to continue while environmental review challenges are resolved - something that has taken literal decades in the dewatering of East Maui’s streams - this bill would turn our environmental review process into an afterthought, legitimizing unlawful and irresponsible agency practices that have inflicted and that will continue to inflict tremendous generational harms and injustices upon our islands and communities.

I urge you to HOLD HB661.

Sincerely,
[Your name]

Sample testimony for HB123 (see below for testimony submission instructions):

Aloha Chair Lowen, Chair Hashem, Vice Chair Perruso, Vice Chair Lamosao, and Members of the Committees,

My name is [Your name] and I strongly oppose HB123, which would allow the Department of Land and Natural Resources to evade any assessment of the environmental impacts of its fishery management decisions - including decisions that may open up our ocean resources to unmitigated commercial exploitation.

Our environmental review law allows decisionmakers and the public to make more fully-informed decisions that can balance and mitigate potential long-term impacts to the public interest from certain proposed activities, before those activities and their impacts are allowed to proceed. This ensures prudent planning while reducing conflict, minimizing adverse outcomes, and safeguarding the health and well-being of present and future generations. 

Unfortunately, the Department of Land and Natural Resources has a long and notorious history of turning a blind eye to its critical statutory and public trust responsibilities, such as by authorizing a fishery program that permits the take of an unlimited amount of marine life for aquarium purposes, without any environmental review. This measure would not only legitimize this longstanding practice that has been affirmed as illegal by the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court, but excuse the department from its environmental review responsibilities for similar fisheries-related actions with potentially deleterious ecological, cultural, recreational, climate resilience, and economic impacts.  

This bill would turn our environmental review process into an afterthought, legitimizing illegal agency practices that have inflicted and that will continue to inflict potentially irreparable harms to our marine life and the vast public interest in our ocean environment.

I urge you to HOLD HB123.

Sincerely,
[Your name] 

Sample testimony for HB658 (see below for testimony submission instructions):

Aloha Chair Lowen, Vice Chair Perruso, and Members of the Energy & Environmental Protection Committee,

My name is [Your name] and I strongly oppose HB658, which would allow the Department of Land and Natural Resources to evade any assessment of the environmental impacts of its ocean use and management decisions.

Our environmental review law allows decisionmakers and the public to make more fully-informed decisions that can balance and mitigate potential long-term impacts to the public interest from certain proposed activities, before those activities and their impacts are allowed to proceed. This ensures prudent planning while reducing conflict, minimizing adverse outcomes, and safeguarding the health and well-being of present and future generations. 

Unfortunately, the Department of Land and Natural Resources has a long and notorious history of turning a blind eye to its critical statutory and public trust responsibilities, such as by operating a commercial boating permitting regime without any environmental review and without due regard for the environmental, cultural, recreational, and broader economic concerns of the public. This measure would not only legitimize this longstanding practice that has been affirmed as illegal by our court system, but also excuse the department from its environmental review responsibilities for similar ocean use authorizations with potentially deleterious ecological, cultural, recreational, climate resilience, and economic impacts.  

This bill would turn our environmental review process into an afterthought, legitimizing illegal agency practices that have inflicted and that will continue to inflict potentially irreparable harms to the vast and varied public interests in our ocean environment.

I urge you to HOLD HB658.

Sincerely,
[Your name]

Testimony instructions

  1. Register for a capitol website account if you haven’t yet (youʻll need to confirm your registration by responding to an automated email)

  2. Sign in to capitol.hawaii.gov with your registration information and click the "Submit Testimony" button.

  3. Enter "HB661/HB123/HB658" where it says "Enter Bill or Measure."

  4. Input your information and your written testimony, select your testimony option(s)—in-person + written, remotely + written, written only. Please consider providing verbal testimony (in-person or remotely) if you are able! 
    *Note: Virtual testimony option may be disabled 24 hours before the hearing.

  5. If you are testifying via Zoom, be sure to review these instructions (page 4)