HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

993

THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2023

H.D. 1

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

 

RELATING TO SEA LEVEL RISE ADAPTATION.

 

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 

     SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that climate change and sea level rise pose significant, dangerous, and imminent threats to the State's social and economic well-being, public safety, nature and environment, cultural resources, property, infrastructure, and government functions.  Chronic impacts of sea level rise, including coastal erosion, high-tide flooding, and annual high-wave flooding, are already impacting many low-lying coastal areas and are predicted to increase in extent and severity in the coming decades.

     To successfully adapt to climate change and sea level rise, state agencies with operational responsibilities over facilities owned and managed by the State must plan, coordinate, and act to assure Hawaii's sustainable and resilient future and mitigate against societal or economic disruptions caused by climate impacts.  The legislature recognizes that the practice of statewide sea level rise adaptation will require comprehensive and long-term planning and that collectively, state agencies with operational responsibilities over state facilities must work collaboratively over time through a centralized coordinating agency to identify existing and planned facilities that are vulnerable to sea level rise, flooding impacts, and natural hazards.

     In accordance with Act 178, Session Laws of Hawaii 2021, the office of planning and sustainable development conducted an inventory of state facilities vulnerable to sea level rise and identified that over 275 facilities owned and managed by the State are located within the sea level rise exposure area in the 3.2-feet sea level rise scenario, as projected by the 2017 Hawaii sea level rise and adaptation report, which was prepared as required by Act 83, Session Laws of Hawaii 2014, as amended by Act 32, Session Laws of Hawaii 2017.  These vulnerable facilities represent structures under the management of twenty different state agencies.  The 2021 report recommended that site-specific vulnerability assessments be conducted on the facilities identified in the exposure assessment in order to fully understand the vulnerabilities, impacts, and adaptive capacity of these facilities and facilitate agencies' abilities to prioritize needs for current and future sea level rise adaptation into capital improvement requests.

     The purpose of this Act is to require the office of planning and sustainable development to develop a standardized process for assessing the vulnerability of state facilities to sea level rise.

     SECTION 2.  The office of planning and sustainable development, in consultation with state agencies with operational responsibilities over facilities owned and managed by the State, shall develop a standardized process for assessing the vulnerability of facilities owned and managed by the State to sea level rise in order to ensure that sea level rise planning and adaptation implementation are carried out in a consistent and comprehensive way across state agencies' capital planning projects.

     The development of a standardized vulnerability assessment process shall include:

     (1)  A standardized procedure and template for assessing and reporting facility vulnerability to sea level rise; and

     (2)  Guidance for agencies with operational responsibilities over facilities owned and managed by the State on how to conduct the vulnerability assessment.

     SECTION 3.  There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $           or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2023-2024 to fund the development of a standardized vulnerability assessment process for facilities owned and managed by the State.

     The sum appropriated shall be expended by the office of planning and sustainable development for the purposes of this Act.

     SECTION 4.  This Act shall take effect on June 30, 3000.

 

 

Report Title:

Office of Planning and Sustainable Development; Sea Level Rise Adaptation; Vulnerability Assessments; Appropriation

 

Description:

Requires the Office of Planning and Sustainable Development, in cooperation with each state agency having operational responsibilities over state facilities, to develop a standardized process to conduct vulnerability assessments for facilities at risk from sea level rise and guidance to agencies on how to conduct the vulnerability assessments for their facilities.  Appropriates funds.  Effective 6/30/3000.  (HD1)

 

 

 

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