SB2834

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that:

(1) 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 over the next six years costing $842,000,000, to be financed by state funds and bonds. The initiative involves modification and expansion to facilitate twenty-five or more years of growth, consumer demand, and changes in user needs;

(2) The state harbors improvements initiative creates significant opportunities for achieving a more efficient and higher-capacity statewide system of inter-island transportation but also creates significant environmental, cultural, social, and economic impacts that the State needs to assess, address, mitigate, or avoid through a systematic environmental review with measures identified to best address, mitigate, or avoid impacts and to enforce a statewide sustainability permitting scheme;

(3) A strong consensus emerged from the testimony of many members of the legislature, inter-island transportation stakeholders, and the public during the 2007 special session on the large capacity inter‑island 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 inter-island transportation systems, as well as to achieving higher and equitable standards in operating conditions among various inter-island transportation modes;

(4) The Polynesian people arrived to the Hawaiian islands more than two thousand 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 inter-island transportation system;

(5) The State is unique among the United States as the only all-island state, completely surrounded by the Pacific Ocean, necessitating inter-island transportation by air or water, and is more than two thousand five hundred miles from the United States mainland and Asia, creating critical issues of dependence on air and water transportation systems;

(6) The State needs a robust, environmentally sustainable, efficient, diverse, secure, and affordable system of inter-island transportation to meet both public and private needs of its businesses, residents, and visitors;

(7) The proposed state harbors improvements initiative, the large capacity inter-island ferry controversy, concerns about cruise ship pollution, volatility in inter-island 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 inter-island 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;

(8) The proposed state harbors improvements initiative should undergo a programmatic environmental review prior to preferred alternatives for site-specific projects being selected;

(9) 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;

(10) 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 inter-island transportation projects;

(11) The work and report of the twenty-five 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

(12) 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 inter-island transportation system.

The purpose of this Act is to convene a Hawaii sustainable inter-island transportation task force.

SECTION 2. (a) There is created a temporary five-year Hawaii sustainable inter-island transportation task force, to be under the office of planning for administrative purposes.

(b) The Hawaii sustainable inter-island transportation task force shall:

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

(2) Assess proposed changes to the State's inter-island transportation systems for the next twenty-five 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; and

(5) Identify the most appropriate existing or new entity to administer the new permit system, including but not limited to, consideration of the public utilities commission as the appropriate regulatory entity.

(1) Ensuring the sustainability and protection of the State's indigenous marine resources (for example, whales, turtles, dolphins, and coral reefs) and indigenous terrestrial resources (for example, native plants, insects, birds, and mammals) from the adverse impacts of inter-island 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 inter-island 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 inter-island 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

(5) Minimizing the contributions of the State's inter‑island 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 inter-island transportation operations; and

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

(d) The Hawaii sustainable inter-island transportation task force shall cease to exist on October 1, 2012.

SECTION 3. Appointment of members to the Hawaii sustainable inter-island transportation task force shall be exempt from section 26-34, Hawaii Revised Statutes. The Hawaii sustainable inter-island transportation task force shall be composed of twenty 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 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 representative 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 inter-island 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.

Each of the foregoing entities shall submit the name of their designated representative and an alternate to the office of planning no later than August 15, 2008.

SECTION 4. The office of planning shall convene the first meeting of the Hawaii sustainable inter-island transportation task force no later than September 15, 2008, and thereafter no less than once every two months.

SECTION 5. The Hawaii sustainable inter-island transportation task force may utilize the resources of an expert facilitator for its meetings and for preparing the report, as well as the resources of the office of planning designated under this Act.

SECTION 6. (a) The office of planning shall prepare a draft report of findings, recommendations, and proposed legislation of the Hawaii sustainable inter-island transportation task force:

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

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

The office of planning shall conduct information briefings on each of the neighbor island as well as Oahu on each draft report. Comments from the public and the briefings shall be actively solicited, fully recorded, and incorporated into the each final report. The office of planning shall maintain publicly accessible records of the task force meetings and public briefings, and shall submit a final report of findings, recommendations, and proposed legislation to the legislature and governor no later than twenty days before the convening of the regular session of 2010.

(b) The office of planning may contract with private or public entities to conduct the necessary facilitation, studies, and analyses for purposes of preparing the report under this Act. Such contracts shall be exempt from chapter 103D, Hawaii Revised Statutes.

SECTION 7. As used in this Act:

"Inter-island transportation" means any means of public or private transportation of people, cargo, plants, or animals, among or between the Hawaiian islands, including commercial cargo operations, small- and high-capacity ferry vessel operations, cruise ships, and inter-island airline services, but does not include wholly private recreational air or watercraft.

"Sustainable" means transportation that protects the environment, public health, welfare, and local economy and meets mobility needs consistent with the use of renewable resources at or below their rate of regeneration, and the use of non‑renewable resources at or below rates of development of renewable substitutes.

SECTION 8. There is appropriated out of the harbor special fund the sum of $ or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2008-2009 for the expenses of the office of planning pursuant to this Act.

The sum appropriated shall be expended by the department of transportation to defray the expenses of the office of planning for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 9. There is appropriated out of the airport revenue fund the sum of $ or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2008-2009 for the expenses of the office of planning pursuant to this Act.

The sum appropriated shall be expended by the department of transportation to defray the expenses of the office of planning for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 10. This Act shall take effect upon its approval; provided that sections 8 and 9 shall take effect on July 1, 2008.

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________

THE SENATE	S.B. NO.	2834
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2008
STATE OF HAWAII