Each year, the Legislature closes up shop in early May, but it isn\u2019t until mid-July, after the deadline passes for the governor\u2019s vetoes, that the dust finally settles and the public can see what changes have been wrought in Hawai\u2018i\u2019s legal system.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s crop of environmental bills included ones relating to invasive species, long-range planning, energy, solid waste, wastewater, land conservation, public ac cess, recycling, and Land Board member ship, among other things. Governor Linda Lingle signed 10 of the bills reviewed here into law and let seven more become law without her signature. She vetoed three more environmental bills; all three became law when the Legislature overrode the ve toes in its special session held July 12.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn balance,\u201d says Jeff Mikulina, execu tive director of the Sierra Club, Hawai\u2018i chapter, who closely tracks bills as they move through the session, \u201cI think it was the best session I\u2019ve ever seen.\u201d Not only did the Legislature enact big environmental measures, but, he added, \u201cthere was a good smattering of little things, too.\u201d<\/p>\n
What follows is a short synopsis of several of the environmental bills passed by the 2005 Legislature.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n <\/b><\/p>\n LAND BOARD QUALIFICATIONS: ACT 9<\/b> HELP WITH COQUI: ACT 51.<\/b> PEST INSPECTIONS: ACT 64<\/b> ELECTRICITY SELL-BACK: ACT 104.<\/b> DUMPING PENALTIES: ACT 106.<\/b> INCREASED MOORING FEES: ACT 126.<\/b> ENVIRONMENTAL APPEALS: ACT 130.<\/b> The bill passed the House, but the Senate gutted the bill and replaced it with a series of definitions of elements of waste-water treatment and collection systems that the Senate Committee on Energy, Environ ment, and International Affairs said was needed to clarify 2004 amendments to Chapter 343, the state\u2019s environmental dis closure law.<\/p>\n The House of Representatives did not accept the changes, and the bill went to conference. There, the language approved by the House was restored in a slightly watered-down version, the expansive defi nition section of the Senate bill was elimi nated, a \u201cfindings\u201d section was included, and the term \u201cwastewater facility\u201d was changed to \u201cwastewater treatment unit.\u201d This last change, says the Conference Com mittee report, should clarify that the 2004 act \u201cwas not intended to include only a portion of an existing facility\u2026. [T]he leg islature finds that the term \u2018wastewater treatment unit\u2019 is a more appropriate de scription of the type of new project that would trigger an environmental review pro cess.\u201d<\/p>\n LEGACY LANDS: ACT 156.<\/b> SOLAR ENERGY: ACT 157.<\/b> The act also requires the associations to adopt rules by June 30, 2006, governing solar energy installations. As originally in troduced, House Bill 1017 would have re quired all new housing units to include solar water heating systems. That language dropped out before the measure left the House.<\/p>\n NO GOLF ON AG LANDS: ACT 205.<\/b> BOTTLE BILL AMENDMENTS: ACT 206.<\/b> <\/p>\n <\/b><\/p>\n SHARKS: ACT 233<\/b> MILOLI\u2018I FISHING: ACT 232.<\/b> REVERSE VENDING REBATES: ACT 228.<\/b> BOTTLE BILL UPDATE: ACT 227.<\/b> COASTAL LIGHT POLLUTION: ACT 224.<\/b> OUTRIGGER CANOE STORAGE: ACT 220.<\/b> CRUISE SHIP POLLUTION: ACT 217.<\/b> <\/p>\n <\/b><\/p>\n WAI`ANAE COAST: ACT 6, Lingle vetoed the bill. Although she sup ports establishing an ORMA for Wai\u2018anae, she said in her veto message, Senate Bill 1262 would \u201cset a negative precedent by requiring the Department of Land and Natural Resources to prepare a regional baseline environmental study seemingly modeled along the lines of an environmen tal impact statement before an ORMA is established.\u201d<\/p>\n When the Legislature met in its override session on July 12, this was one of 12 vetoes it overturned. The new law requires the DLNR to deliver the baseline environmen tal study to the Legislature no less than 20 days before the start of its 2007 session.<\/p>\n OFFICE OF PLANNING: ACT 12, This year, the Legislature passed Senate Bill 1877, which included language specify ing that the Office of Planning was not to report to \u201cany other principal executive department\u201d other than DBEDT. The bill also made the position of director of the office subject to Senate confirmation.<\/p>\n In her veto message, Lingle described the bill as \u201cobjectionable because it limits my administration\u2019s flexibility in executing pro grams and functions to achieve maximum results.\u201d Her administrative directive in structing the Office of Planning to report to Peter Young, head of the DLNR, \u201chas re sulted in meaningful, productive, and suc cessful undertakings in land use planning issues.\u201d Lingle also described as objection able the proposed requirement for Senate confirmation of the office\u2019s director.<\/p>\n The Legislature overturned the veto.<\/p>\n SUSTAINABLE PLANNING: ACT 8, Lingle\u2019s veto message indicated she ob jected to giving the task of planning to the Legislative Auditor, inasmuch as planning lies outside the scope of the auditor\u2019s work. In addition, \u201cthis bill would appropriate $200,000 to the Auditor but provides no monies to the Office of Planning that is responsible for comprehensive long range and strategic planning.\u201d (Lingle\u2019s own bud gets have failed to give the Office of Plan ning funds needed to review existing state plans, even though Chapter 225 calls for updates at least every five years.) The Legis lature overrode the veto on July 12.<\/p>\n — Patricia Tummons<\/p>\n Volume 16, Number 2 August 2005<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Each year, the Legislature closes up shop in early May, but it isn’t until mid-July, after the deadline passes for the governor’s vetoes, that the dust finally settles and the public can see what changes have been wrought in Hawai‘i’s … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[133],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-august-2005"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1483\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nSigned into Law<\/div>\n
\nThis law (formerly Senate Bill 1680) re quires at least one member of the state Board of Land and Natural Resources to have a formal grounding in conservation, as evidenced by a college degree in a relevant field (such as forestry, environmental sci ence, marine biology) or by \u201cwork history sufficient to demonstrate an appropriate level of knowledge in the subject of land and natural resources.\u201d The act took effect on the day it was signed \u2013 April 18, 2005 \u2013 and applies to any new appointments and reappointments made after its effective date. The current board membership includes Tim Johns, whose background could meet the qualifications. His term expires June 30, 2006. After that, Governor Lingle will have to appoint someone specifically to fill the new requirements.<\/p>\n
\nThis appropriates $300,000 to the four counties to assist in the control of the noisy coqui frog, over and above appropriations to the Hawai\u2018i Invasive Species Council. O\u2018ahu and Kaua\u2018i are to receive $50,000 each, while Maui and Hawai\u2018i counties will receive $100,000 each.<\/p>\n
\nThis law (Senate Bill 956) amends existing statutes to require the state Department of Agriculture to adopt rules designating or ganisms whose import into the state will require the department\u2019s specific advance approval. It also authorizes the DOA to adopt rules requiring bills of lading and warehouse receipts, among other shipping documents, to identify articles deemed to be of high risk for carrying possible pest organisms.<\/p>\n
\nAt present, electric utility customers who generate their own power and sell a portion back to the utilities are limited to 50 kilo watts of capacity. This law (Senate Bill 1003), allows the Public Utilities Commis sion to lift that ceiling through the rule-making process. It also specifies that credits for generated power that are not offset by consumption do not carry over past a 12-month period.<\/p>\n
\nThis act (House Bill 1430) specifies that dumping an amount equal to or greater than one cubic yard of solid waste, but less than 10 cubic yards, qualifies as a petty mis demeanor punishable by up to $25,000 for each separate offense, a jail term of up to 30 days, or revocation or suspension, if ordered by a court, of any contractor\u2019s license or certificate from the Public Utilities Commis sion. Each day of violation counts as a sepa rate offense.<\/p>\n
\nUnder this act (Senate Bill 1891), fees paid to the state Boating Special Fund by commer cial vessels that moor in the state\u2019s small boat harbors rise to 3 percent of gross revenues or twice the assessed moorage fees, whichever is greater. Previously, the percentage rents were fixed by the Department of Land and Natu ral Resources at 2 percent.<\/p>\n
\nHouse drafts of House Bill 408 gave the Office of Environmental Quality Control the ability to review an agency\u2019s determina tion that a project it was proposing would have no significant environmental impact. This arose in response to long-standing com plaints that agencies are inherently conflicted when they are in the position of judging the adequacy of the environmental review that they (or their contractors or consultants) prepare for projects they wish to undertake.<\/p>\n
\nThis establishes a fund to acquire lands, assist with affordable housing, and give the Natural Area Reserves System additional resources. (See separate story.)<\/p>\n
\nUnder this act, owners of houses and townhouses are allowed to install solar en ergy devices without the approval of their respective homeowners\u2019 or condominium owners\u2019 associations, although they would have to be notified of such installations.<\/p>\n
\nThis measure (House Bill 109) bans the construction of any new golf course on land in the state Agricultural District, but allows them as permitted uses on lands in the state Rural District. The first draft of the bill would have specified that residences in gated communities, communities with golf courses or private clubs, and subdivisions with covenants restricting agricultural ac tivity would be presumed not to be farm residences permitted under the state\u2019s Land Use Law. This was in direct response to the development of luxury residential subdivi sions on much agricultural land (such as the Hokuli\u2018a subdivision in Kona). Environ mental groups generally supported the bill, as did other state agencies, including the Office of Planning. Testimony in opposi tion was submitted by the Hawai\u2018i Associa tion of Realtors, the Land Use Research Foundation, the Hawai\u2018i Resort Develop ers Conference \u2013 and Peter Young, on be half of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources. Although the bill did not address any matter affecting Young or his department, Young, a former real estate agent, said in testimony before the Senate Committee on Water, Land, and Agricul ture, that he favored \u201ca more comprehen sive approach\u201d to safeguarding Hawai\u2018i\u2019s agricultural lands.<\/p>\n
\nCruise ships, airplanes, and other \u201ccom mercial passenger vessels\u201d need not comply with the state bottle-deposit law, so long as they have a recycling plan and have filed a copy of the plan with the state Department of Health. The act, formerly House Bill 1015, also allows redemption centers to ac cept flattened aluminum cans for refunds.<\/p>\n
\nEnacted without Signature<\/div>\n
\nThis appropriates $25,000 to the Depart ment of Land and Natural Resources, which is to be used in conjunction with the Uni versity of Hawai\u2018i\u2019s Hawai\u2018i Institute of Marine Biology to develop a program to tag and monitor sharks along the leeward coast from Pearl Harbor to Ka\u2018ena Point. This measure, introduced as Senate Bill 1267, addresses concerns voiced by some fishers in the area that shark populations were in creasing as a direct result of the presence of open-ocean aquaculture in the area. In her statement of concerns, Lingle said that the amount appropriated was not nearly enough and that, in any event, the presence of sharks was a sign of a healthy marine ecosystem.<\/p>\n
\nSenate Bill 1883 establishes the Miloli\u2018i Fish eries Management Area as a community subsistence fishery management area and directs the DLNR to promulgate rules that will protect the community\u2019s traditional fishing practices. Lingle said she objected to the bill doing an end-run around the DLNR\u2019s administrative rule-making procedures.<\/p>\n
\nSenate Bill 212 authorizes the Department of Health to offer beverage container re demption centers up to a total of $3 million a year in rebates to offset the cost of purchas ing reverse vending machines. Individual centers could qualify for $30,000, $60,000, or $90,000 a year in rebates, depending on the size of their operations.<\/p>\n
\nSenate Bill 680 orders the Department of Health to facilitate information-sharing be tween beverage-container manufacturers and redemption centers, especially with re spect to bar-code information that can be read by reverse-vending machines. In her statement of concern, Lingle said it was both \u201cinappropriate and unfortunate that the state is being burdened with this duty.\u201d She con tinued: \u201cThis requirement is indicative of the poor thought given to the original pro gram and the failure to recognize that con tainer recycling would work better if left to the private entities involved.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nHouse Bill 895 prohibits the use of artificial lights to illuminate the shoreline and ocean waters for \u201cdecorative or aesthetic purposes.\u201d Some exceptions are allowed for hotel and condominium lighting, and for public-safety purposes. Among Lingle\u2019s concerns: that the science showing the lighting confused migratory sea turtles and birds was \u201cmixed,\u201d and that the measure impinged on land owners\u2019 ability to light their shoreline resi dences as they might like to.<\/p>\n
\nHouse Bill 125 allows outrigger canoes belonging to clubs registered with the Hawaiian Canoe Racing Association to be stored on state shorelines at no charge. The clubs have to agree to hold the state harmless and, if requested by the state, to procure sufficient insurance. They also have to place the canoes in areas where they do not interfere with other beach users, and must comply with all applicable county and state permitting requirements. Lingle\u2019s state ment of concern said that technically, the bill limited the canoes to being stored below the high-water mark, which defines the upper limit of the state shorelines \u2013 and obviously contrary to what the bill\u2019s au thors intended. She also objected to the bill\u2019s lack of provision for county indemni fication in the event canoes are stored on county shorelines.<\/p>\n
\nHouse Bill 422 sets standards for waste water discharges by cruise ships in state waters, prohibits operation of cruise ship incinerators while the vessels are in port, and sets standards for stack emissions by such vessels. In her statement of concern about this bill, Lingle said that the existing memorandum of understanding between the state and cruise ship operators provided for generally higher operating standards. (The MOU is, however, unenforceable.) But some in the environmental community see this bill as practically worse than noth\u00ading. Jeff Mikulina, director of the Sierra Club, Hawai\u2018i Chapter, notes that it\u2019s ques tionable if the state can regulate wastewater discharges from cruise ships without an act of Congress (such as Alaska obtained). \u201cThis is just a stratagem to say it\u2019s a done deal,\u201d he said, referring to regulation of cruise ship pollution.<\/p>\n
\nVeto Overrides<\/div>\n
\nSPECIAL SESSION.<\/b>
\nAs recent, protracted meetings of the Board of Land and Natural Resources have shown, the Wai\u2018anae Coast is having to deal with increasing commercial use of its harbor and offshore areas. Senate Bill 1262 forbids the Land Board from issuing any new permits to commercial tour operators and calls for the Department of Land and Natural Re sources to prepare a baseline environmental study preparatory to establishing by rule an Ocean Recreation Management Area for the region.<\/p>\n
\nSPECIAL SESSION.<\/b>
\nFor two years, the state Office of Planning, which is part of the Department of Busi ness, Economic Development, and Tour ism, has been effectively reporting to the head of the Department of Land and Natu ral Resources under a reorganization ef fected by Lingle but not authorized by the Legislature.<\/p>\n
\nSPECIAL SESSION.<\/b>
\nSenate Bill 1592 called for the Legislative Auditor\u2019s office to develop a \u201cHawai\u2018i 2050 Sustainability Plan,\u201d growing out of recom mendations from a Hawai\u2018i 2050 Task Force. Among other things, the task force and auditor were to review whether the current Hawai\u2018i state plan \u2013 last updated in the early 1990s \u2013 was in need of amend ment.<\/p>\n