Hawaiʻi law provides for an unusual – in Hawaiʻi, at least – process to select members of the state Commission on Water Resource Management. A special four-person committee considers applicants for vacancies on the commission. Two of them are named … Continued
News of the selection of V.R. Hinano Rodrigues was not welcomed by many of the same groups who had pushed to have the governor pick a candidate from the two remaining on the original list forwarded to him in February. … Continued
Kona Three Goes Down: The long and fraught controversy over a housing development proposed more than 40 years ago just south of Kailua-Kona seems to have come to an end. On November 20, the Hawaiʻi County Council voted down a … Continued
Discovery Harbour Verdict: A long-running lawsuit over development rights in the South Point area of Discovery Harbour was decided last month in favor of the developer, South Point Investment Group, LLC. Third Circuit Judge Henry Nakamoto found that the properties … Continued
In 2020, Honolulu and Maui brought suits in the respective circuit courts of their counties against petroleum companies that have operated in Hawaiʻi for decades. The lawsuits allege that the companies knew for a very long time that the use … Continued
The Public Utilities Commission wants to know why some customers of the Launiupoko Water Company are consuming frankly outrageous amounts of potable water. And so, on October 17, it sent formal requests for information to LWC, laying out in detail … Continued
Twice last month the Intermediate Court of Appeals has found in favor of the County of Kauaʻi’s law governing the renewal of non-conforming permits to operate transient vacation rentals outside of designated resort zones. In one case, it reversed the … Continued
Vacation Rentals on Ag Land: The Hawaiʻi Supreme Court has issued its decision in a long-festering dispute over vacation rentals of houses built in the state Agricultural land use district. They’re not allowed, the court ruled, upholding the finding of … Continued
Last month’s meeting of the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council, an agency of the federal government that has no other source of funds than the U.S. taxpayer, began this way: William Sword, a council member from American Samoa and chair … Continued
Last May, the state Land Use Commission received an update on plans to develop about 1,000 houses on land near Lahaina, Maui. The LUC had first approved a project in this area three decades ago. In the intervening decades, ownership … Continued