HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	1140
THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2025
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

RELATING TO HOMELESS ENCAMPMENTS ON DEPARTMENT OF LAND AND NATURAL RESOURCES LANDS.

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

SECTION 1. The department of land and natural resources manages public lands including, on O`ahu: Diamond Head State Monument, which hosts over a million visitors a year; and Hāmākua and Kawainui Marsh Wildlife Sanctuaries, where some of the first Hawaiians are thought to have lived. Neighbor Island sites include the Kahulu Boat Ramp and unencumbered lands along the Honoapiilani Highway on Maui; Wailoa Harbor, Kailua Pier, and parts of downtown Hilo on Hawaii Island; and unencumbered lands in Kapa`a and Wailua on Kaua`i. Homeless encampments can be found at all of these places and on other less prominent lands, and the department is responsible for their clean-up, including the removal of waste and other debris that is often associated with their presence. These clean-ups are crucial to restore department lands, to help lessen potential hazards to human health, and to reduce potential damage to public trust resources.

In fiscal year 2024-2025, cleaning up after homeless encampments on lands managed by the department of land and natural resources is expected to cost the State approximately $3,000,000. For fiscal year 2023-2024, the department, with help from the Hawaii department of transportation, cleaned up homeless encampments comprised of approximately 223 people in twenty-four locations on the department of land and natural resources' lands. At least 129 days were spent cleaning department properties for this purpose. Many of these efforts have occurred as multi-day clean-ups because of the amount of waste and debris or the size of the encampment. For example, at Diamond Head, it takes approximately four days to clean the entire property after the removal of homeless encampments; and for a single clean-up effort in 2024 near Kalihi Stream on O`ahu, approximately one month of labor cost the department approximately $1,000,000, in-part because the number of individuals needed to perform the work was nearly double the number usually needed for a standard large clean-up (e.g., Diamond Head) to approximately thirty-to-fifty individuals each day, and also due to costs such as for renting three forty-foot trash bins per day and dump-site fees. In the past, funding for these clean-ups on department lands statewide was appropriated to the department of human services and then transferred to the Hawaii department of transportation, which handled procurement and management of the work. However, the department of human services did not include funding for statewide homeless encampment cleanups that cover lands managed by the department of land and natural resources in its budget request for fiscal year 2023-2024. The department of human services is not expected to include this funding in its budget requests moving forward. To avoid re-directing crucial operating funds to cover the clean-up costs associated with homeless encampments on its lands, the department of land and natural resources requires additional funds. The purpose of this Act is to provide dedicated funding to the department for this purpose.

SECTION 2. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $2,500,000 or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2025-2026 and the same sum or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2026-2027 to carry out the purposes of this Act.

The sums appropriated shall be expended by the department of land and natural resources.

SECTION 3. Beginning with fiscal biennium 2027 to 2029 and each biennium thereafter, the department of land and natural resources shall include in its annual budget request line-item funding to cover the clean-up costs associated with homeless encampments on its lands.

SECTION 4. This Act, upon its approval, shall take effect on July 1, 2025.

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________
	BY REQUEST

Report Title:

DLNR; State Lands; Homeless Encampments; Clean-ups; Appropriation

Description:

Appropriates funds to the Department of Land and Natural Resources to cover its work cleaning up after the removal of homeless encampments on state lands under the Department's control.

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