SUPPORT GM770: Hannah Springer Water Commission Loea Nomination
/April 11 update
GM770, which nominates Aunty Hannah Springer to the Water Commission loea seat, was supported by the Senate Water and Land Committee and will now be considered by the full Senate for final confirmation. Mahalo nui to the many individuals and organizations who submitted over 450 pages of testimony in support and special thanks to Chair Inouye and Vice Chair Elefante for considering and supporting this nomination.
Thanks to the persistent public pressure from individuals like you, Water Commission loea seat nominee Hinano Rodrigues has withdrawn his nomination for the loea seat (click here for Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi statement). In another important victory, Governor Green finally heeded over a year of community demands to follow the law, and selected a new nominee from the list of individuals given to him by the Water Commission nominating committee in February of last year: Hannah Kihalani Springer. Please take a moment to submit testimony in SUPPORT of GM770, seeking Senate confirmation of Hannah Springer’s historic nomination as the Water Commission’s loea!
The loea seat on the Water Commission, designated for an expert in Native Hawaiian water management, is essential to ensuring the Commission incorporates time-tested water management practices, values, and perspectives that enabled a society of a million residents to live sustainably and self-sufficiently in our islands since time immemorial.
Thankfully, “Aunty” Hannah Springer is one of the best possible candidates to serve in the Water Commission’s loea seat. A deeply respected cultural practitioner and historian with lineal ties to the dry “ke kahawaiʻole” of Kaʻūpūlehu and Kūkiʻo, she is grounded in the ʻike kūpuna of her ahupuaʻa, where her ancestors were able to not just survive, but thrive in a landscape seemingly - but not entirely - devoid of life-giving wai. The moʻolelo, practices, and reverence for wai tied to her ahupuaʻa will greatly inform the Commission’s discussions and decisions as they navigate our islands through an unprecedented era of climate destabilization and increasing water scarcity.
In addition to her cultural expertise, Aunty Hannah also brings a wealth of community leadership and creative problem solving experience developed over a lifetime of public and community service. A former OHA trustee; a plaintiff in the Ka Paʻakai o ka ʻĀina case, establishing the mandatory “Ka Paʻakai” analysis that balances Western land uses with cultural practices; a leading advocate for the successful designation and expansion of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument; a founding and current leading member of the Kaʻūpūlehu Marine Life Advisory Committee, which has brought together developers, landowners, cultural practitioners, community representatives, and lineal descendants to steward the lands and waters of Kaʻūpūlehu and Kūkiʻo; and a past and present board member of various nonprofits including the Conservation Council for Hawaiʻi and Kuaʻāina Ulu ʻAuamo; Aunty Hannah’s long history of service and demonstrated ability to bring together Western and Hawaiian perspectives to find unique and effective solutions will also serve her extremely well as a member of the Commission.
The nomination of Aunty Hannah is the result of over a year of organizing to ensure the Governor followed the lawful process for Water Commission nominees, including rallies, hundreds of emails and phone calls, powerful testimonies, op-eds and letters to the editor, educational panels and videos, a letter signed by over 70 organizations and leaders, a lawsuit, and continued education of the general public and policymakers.
But it’s not over yet. Aunty Hannah’s nomination still needs to be confirmed by the Senate - and we need your help to make sure her nomination goes through! The Senate Water and Land Committee will be confirming Aunty Hannah’s nomination on Friday, April 11 at 1pm in room 229 (watch online here). Please take a moment right now to submit written testimony in support of Aunty Hannah Springer, and ask your friends and networks to do the same! Sample testimony and instructions below.
Sample testimony for GM770
Aloha Chair Inouye, Vice Chair Elefante, and Members of the Committee,
My name is [your name] and I am testifying in STRONG SUPPORT of the nomination of Hannah Kihalani Springer to serve as the Water Commission’s loea, or Native Hawaiian water management expert, as reflected in GM770.
I am thankful for the Governor’s decision to finally follow the law, and select a nominee from the list of names given to him by the Water Commission nominating committee last February. In doing so, he has chosen one of the best possible candidates to serve on the Commission, in one of its most important roles.
Aunty Hannah Springer is a celebrated and highly accomplished cultural practitioner, community leader, and dedicated aloha ʻāina, whose wisdom and experience will be invaluable to the Water Commission’s work. Her background includes her service as an OHA Trustee; her role in creating the “Ka Paʻakai” analysis used to balance development and other proposed actions with the protection of cultural practices and resources; her community service on various nonprofit boards including the Conservation Council for Hawaiʻi and Kuaʻāina Ulu ʻAuamo, and her continued work as a founding and leading member of the Kaʻūpūlehu Marine Life Advisory Committee - a celebrated model of collaboration between developers, private landowners, lineal descendants, cultural practitioners, and community members all dedicated to the stewardship of the ʻāina, wai, and kai of Kaʻūpūlehu and Kūkiʻo. These experiences as well as her demonstrated ability to find creative, collaborative, and culturally-grounded solutions integrating Western and Native Hawaiian perspectives will be vital to the careful, balanced, and nuanced discussions and decisionmaking that the Water Commission will be engaged in over the next several years.
Moreover, Aunty Hannah is a lineal descendant of Kaʻūpūlehu and Kūkiʻo, grounded in the ʻike kūpuna of her ancestors who understood how to not just survive, but thrive notwithstanding the highly variable rainfall conditions of these ahupuaʻa. The mindset imbued in the moʻolelo and cultural practices of her kulāiwi, particularly with respect to the preciousness of wai, will be more important than ever before, as climate destabilization continues to impact our islands’ rainfall patterns and as important decisions must soon be made regarding the sharing and protection of this increasingly limited resource.
Accordingly, I respectfully but strongly urge that the Committee recommend that the Senate ADVISE AND CONSENT to Aunty Hannah’s nomination, as reflected in GM770.
Sincerely,
[Your name]
Testimony instructions
Register for a capitol website account if you haven’t 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 "Submit Testimony" button.
Enter "GM770" where it says "Enter Bill or Measure."
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.
If you are testifying via Zoom, be sure to review these instructions (page 4)