HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.C.R. NO.	306
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2008		H.D. 1
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

REQUESTING THE OFFICE OF PLANNING TO ESTABLISH A TEMPORARY HAWAII SUSTAINABLE INTERISLAND TRANSPORTATION TASK FORCE.

     WHEREAS, the Governor, in conjunction with the Hawaii Harbor Users Group and with the support of leadership of the Legislature, recently announced a Harbor Improvements Initiative (Initiative) costing $842,000,000 over the next six years, and financed by state funds and bonds, to modify and expand facilities to accommodate twenty-five or more years of growth, consumer demand, and changes in user needs; and

     WHEREAS, while the Initiative creates significant opportunities for achieving a more efficient and higher-capacity statewide system of interisland transportation, it also creates significant environmental, cultural, social, and economic impacts that the State must assess, address, mitigate, or avoid through a systematic environmental review with identifiable measures to best address, mitigate, or avoid those impacts and to enforce a statewide sustainability permitting scheme; and

     WHEREAS, a strong consensus emerged from the testimony of many members of the Legislature, interisland transportation stakeholders, and the public during the 2007 Special Session on the large capacity interisland ferry issue that much greater attention must be paid to early assessment and mitigation of the adverse environmental, cultural, economic, and social impacts of our State's changing and growing interisland transportation systems, as well as to achieving higher and equitable standards in operating conditions among various interisland transportation modes; and

     WHEREAS, the Polynesian people arrived in the Hawaiian Islands more than 2,000 years ago by canoe, with sophisticated navigation techniques, and developed a sustainable life both on and among the islands, offering a cultural history that provides guidance to modern residents of Hawaii on how to achieve a sustainable interisland transportation system; and

     WHEREAS, Hawaii is unique among the United States (U.S.) as the only all-island state, necessitating interisland transportation by air or water, and is more than 2,500 hundred miles from the U.S. mainland and Asia, creating critical issues of dependence on air and water transportation systems; and

     WHEREAS, the State needs a robust, environmentally sustainable, efficient, diverse, secure, and affordable system of interisland transportation to meet both public and private needs of its businesses, residents, and visitors; and

     WHEREAS, the proposed Initiative, the large capacity interisland ferry controversy, concerns about cruise ship pollution, volatility in interisland airline services, and increasing attention to carbon emission and impacts of transportation systems on global warming demonstrate the need for a comprehensive review and integrated regulation of all methods, existing and proposed, of interisland transportation to ensure fair but coordinated regulation of the various modes and operators so that short-term, long-term, cumulative, and secondary impacts are considered prior to commitments to major expansion or modifications of such systems; and

     WHEREAS, the proposed Initiative should undergo a programmatic environmental review prior to preferred alternatives for site-specific projects being selected; and

     WHEREAS, in the transportation context, the scope of the current environmental review process should be broadened to include sustainability-–the so-called "triple bottom line" of environment, economy, and social needs; and

     WHEREAS, a current weakness in the environmental review process under Chapter 343, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is that it does not ensure that appropriate mitigation measures to reduce adverse impacts are incorporated into enforceable operating or pollution control permits, nor has it consistently been applied by state agencies who are considering projects such as harbor improvements that will facilitate major interisland transportation projects; and

     WHEREAS, the work and report of the 25-member Hawaii 2050 Task Force (Act 8, Special Session Laws of Hawaii 2005) provided valuable expertise and stakeholder input on the importance of achieving a more sustainable future for our State, which must now be implemented and put into action to make a meaningful difference for future generations who inherit the impact of the decisions that we make today for these islands; and

     WHEREAS, given all of these considerations, the State must seize this unique opportunity to focus public attention and expertise on planning for and achieving a sustainable state interisland transportation system; now, therefore,

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-fourth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2008, the Senate concurring, that the Office of Planning is requested to establish a temporary Hawaii Sustainable Interisland Transportation Task Force (Task Force); and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Task Force be composed of 20 members, as follows:

     (1)  One member of the Senate, to be selected by the President of the Senate;

     (2)  One member of the House of Representatives, to be selected by the Speaker of the House of Representatives;

     (3)  The Director of the Office of Planning or the Director's designee;

     (4)  The Chairperson of the Board of Land and Natural Resources or the Chairperson's designee;

     (5)  The Chairperson of the Board of Agriculture or the Chairperson's designee;

     (6)  The Director of Transportation or the Director's designee;

     (7)  A representative of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, to be designated by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs;

     (8)  Three representatives of the Hawaii Harbor Users Group, to be designated by the Hawaii Harbor Users Group, including one representative each from the cruise line, ferry, and cargo industries; provided that the representatives of the Hawaii Harbor Users group shall not participate in the Task Force for the air transportation report;

     (9)  Three air transportation representatives from the three largest interisland carriers, with one representative to be selected by the President of the Senate, one representative to be selected by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and one representative to be selected by the Governor; provided that the air transportation representatives shall not participate in the Task Force for the water transportation report;

    (10)  Three representatives of the environmental community that represent major environmental organizations, with one representative to be selected by the President of the Senate, one representative to be selected by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and one representative to be selected by the Governor; and

    (11)  Four representatives of the Hawaii 2050 Task Force, with expertise and interest in sustainable planning, to be designated by the Chairperson of the Hawaii 2050 Task Force;

and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that each of the foregoing entities are requested to submit the name of their designated representative and an alternate to the Office of Planning no later than August 15, 2008; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Task Force is requested to:

     (1)  Study the environmental, economic, and social impacts of existing state interisland transportation systems;

     (2)  Assess proposed changes to the State's interisland transportation systems for the next 25 years;

     (3)  Recommend specific, consistent, effective, and equitable mitigation measures to ensure optimum sustainable operations and minimum adverse impacts;

     (4)  Recommend legislative measures, if any, to establish a new regulatory state permit system to ensure equitable, enforceable, and adaptable state oversight over the environmental, cultural, social, and economic impact of these transportation systems, consistent with federal laws affecting such systems;

     (5)  Identify the most appropriate existing or new entity to administer the new permit system, including consideration of the Public Utilities Commission as the appropriate regulatory entity; and

     (6)  Take into consideration, and work in consistency with, the Hawaii State Plan, specifically section 226-17, Hawaii Revised Statutes;

and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the scope of work for the Task Force are requested to include:

     (1)  Ensuring the sustainability and protection of the State's indigenous marine resources (e.g., whales, turtles, dolphins, and coral reefs) and indigenous terrestrial resources (e.g., native plants, insects, birds, and mammals) from the adverse impacts of interisland transportation;

     (2)  Protecting local diversified agriculture, native ecosystems, and public health from the adverse effects of invasive and alien species that can be introduced, spread, and facilitated by interisland transportation;

     (3)  Mitigating and minimizing the traffic and pedestrian impacts on all islands from the off-loading and on‑loading of vehicles and cargo, including visitors using rental cars, from interisland transportation;

     (4)  Protecting the following, which depend on healthy local natural ecosystems, the protection of public natural resources and protected areas, sensible limits on access, and effective law enforcement:

         (A)  Traditional and customary rights of native Hawaiians;

         (B)  Sustainable local subsistence, recreational fishing, hunting, and harvesting practices; and

         (C)  Wilderness recreation opportunities of island residents;

     (5)  Minimizing the contributions of the State's interisland transportation systems to climate change and promoting the State's energy independency by reducing fossil fuel consumption and emissions of greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, from various interisland transportation operations;

     (6)  Conducting an integrated, strategic, and comprehensive assessment of the issues delineated by this concurrent resolution to ensure maximum positive benefit and to minimize the adverse effects of transportation systems on environmental, cultural, social, and economic values statewide;

     (7)  Ensuring that the flow of commerce is not impeded; and

     (8)  Ensuring economic feasibility for a sustainable, multi-modal, inter-island transportation system;

and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Office of Planning is requested to convene the first meeting of the Task Force no later than September 15, 2008, and thereafter no fewer than once every two months; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Task Force may use the resources of an expert facilitator for its meetings and for preparing the report, as well as the resources of the Office of Planning; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Office of Planning is requested to:

     (1)  Conduct informational briefings on each of the Neighbor Islands, as well as Oahu, on each draft report;

     (2)  Actively solicit comments from the public, fully record the proceedings, and incorporate the comments into the each final report; and

     (3)  Maintain publicly accessible records of the Task Force meetings and public briefings;

and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Office of Planning is requested to submit a report of findings, recommendations, and proposed legislation to the Legislature and Governor no later than 20 days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2010, and submit further recommendations to the Legislature:

     (1)  On water transportation no later than September 31, 2010; and

     (2)  On air transportation no later than September 31, 2012;

and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Governor, Director of the Office of Planning, Chairperson of the Board of Land and Natural Resources, Chairperson of the Board of Agriculture, Director of Transportation, Office of Hawaiian Affairs, the Hawaii Harbor Users Group, and Chairperson of the Hawaii 2050 Task Force.

Report Title: 

Office of Planning; Interisland Transportation Task Force