HILO — The latest version of proposed administrative rules for Maunakea lands managed by the University of Hawaii were unveiled Thursday.
At the bottom of nearly 1,700 pages of meeting materials for the upcoming meeting of the UH Board of Regents is the most recent proposed draft of the administrative rules, which have been a point of contention for the Hawaiian community for more than a year.
The rules, whose purpose is to “provide for the proper use, management and protection of cultural, natural, and scientific resources of the UH management areas,” have gone through two major revisions since first revealed in late 2018. After two rounds of public hearings throughout the state, the regents could make a decision regarding this draft of the rules at a meeting Wednesday in Hilo.
The regents could decide to adopt the rules, change them and bring about another round of public hearings, or defer the decision.
The most recent changes to the rules, brought about by public hearings in June, are largely “non-substantial,” primarily concerning revised language for the sake of clarity. For example, the previous draft included language that prohibits activity that would “harass” visitors to the mountain. The newest draft removes the word “harass” because it is unnecessarily vague.
The proposed rules have been contentious among residents for their apparent power to impede Hawaiian cultural practices and unfettered access to the summit. Both rounds of public hearings attracted nearly universally negative testimony, with many testifiers going beyond the text of the rules to condemn the university’s management of the land.
Several substantial changes were made following the overwhelmingly negative reaction at the first set of hearings in 2018, including the outright removal of a section that appeared to set regulations on Hawaiian cultural practices, revisions to a noise prohibition to ensure that chanting and singing would remain legal, and the naming of UH President David Lassner as the sole person implementing the rules, instead of the previous language referencing an ambiguous “president’s designee.”
Despite these changes, testimony at the subsequent public hearings in June was still extremely negative.
Andre Perez, a leader among the ongoing protests at the Maunakea Access Road against construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope, said that, even with the changes, the rules seem distinctly slanted against Native Hawaiians.
“It’s very vague regarding traditional customary practices and rights,” Perez told the Tribune-Herald on Thursday. “It feels like it’s putting the onus on Hawaiians to have to prove their rights.”
