Oppose HB1979 HD3- Fight Against violations of Environmental Review Laws
/March 19 Update
HB1979 HD3 is a DANGEROUS bill that could effectively foreclose legal review of violations of our bedrock environmental review laws. The Senate Agriculture and Environment, Water, Land, Culture and the Arts, and Energy and Intergovernmental Affairs Committees will hear this bill on Friday at 1 p.m. in conference room 224 (watch live here).
Please take a moment to submit testimony and ask your friends to do the same! And if you are able, consider testifying verbally on HB1979 HD3. Sample testimony and instructions below.
Bill Background & Info
This bill would require any judicial appeals asserting noncompliance with the Hawaiʻi Environmental Protection Act to be filed within a mere 30 days of an agency action or approval relating to affordable housing and clean energy projects. Cultural practitioners, environmentalists, and members of the public with limited resources are unlikely to be able to review decisions, consult with attorneys, and raise funds for legal fees and expert witnesses within such a limited time frame; for actions or approvals that are made by agency staff not subject to the Sunshine Law, members of the public may not even have the opportunity to know that a violation has occurred until well after a month has passed (particularly if no environmental review was conducted at all). As a result, uninformed decisionmaking arising from faulty or nonexistent environmental review could lead to unknown or unintended, avoidable, and permanent impacts to public health and safety, sensitive or critical native species habitat, cultural sites, and constitutionally protected Native Hawaiian traditional and customary practices.
Sample Testimony for HB1979 HD3
Aloha Chair Gabbard, Chair Lee, Chair Wakai, Vice Chair Richards, Vice Chair Inouye, Vice Chair Chang, and Members of the Committees,
My name is [your name] and I STRONGLY OPPOSE HB1979 HD3.
I fully appreciate the desire to fast-track affordable housing and clean energy projects; however, the proposed limitations on judicial review of such projects’ compliance with the Hawaiʻi Environmental Protection Act will only invite uninformed project planning and government decisionmaking, and open the door to unknown or unintended and potentially permanent impacts including but not limited to public health and safety, ecological integrity, water and food security, cultural sites and resources, and constitutionally protected cultural practices.
A mere 30 day window to appeal violations of our environmental review laws, including and especially actions or approvals that evade the law altogether, is unreasonable and unrealistic. Concerned community stakeholders, cultural practitioners, and other members of the public may not even be made aware of violations that would require judicial intervention within this time frame, much less assess these violations, consult with lawyers, and raise the resources needed to uphold one of our bedrock environmental protections. As a result, affordable housing and clean energy projects may be approved and “locked in” notwithstanding threats to the health and safety of tenants and neighboring communities, water and food resources, native and endangered species, cultural practices, and other important public interests connected to our environment.
This measure may even incentivize proponents of controversial projects to “hide the ball,” by seeking environmental review approvals from agency decisionmakers who are not subject to the Sunshine Law, and then delaying project execution until the 30 day window has passed.
In summary, this measure would only shelter violators of our bedrock environmental review laws at the expense of public transparency and participation, accountability, prudent project planning, and fully informed government decisionmaking.
Accordingly, I urge the Committees to HOLD HB1979 HD3. Mahalo nui for the opportunity to testify.
Sincerely,
[Your name]
Testimony instructions
Register for a capitol website account if you haven’t yet (youʻll need to confirm your registration by responding to an automated email).
Sign in to capitol.hawaii.gov with your registration information and click the "Submit Testimony" button.
Enter “HB1979” where it says "Enter Bill or Measure."
Input your information, select “OPPOSE”, write or copy/paste your testimony, and select your testimony option(s)—in-person + written, remotely + written, written only. Please consider providing verbal testimony (in-person or remotely) if you are able!
Note: Virtual testimony option may be disabled 24 hours before the hearing.
If you are testifying via Zoom, be sure to review these instructions (page 4).
Don’t forget to spread the word!