HONOLULU — Gov. Josh Green on Monday signed a host of bills aimed at protecting Hawai‘i’s environment, including ones to better manage tourism and to study coastal erosion on Oahu’s North Shore that could serve as a template for the rest of the islands.
The latest version of Senate Bill 3364 helps restore confidence in the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority by requiring it to develop destination management action plans for each county and expands HTA’s powers and duties.
New tourism management plans are expected to focus on Native Hawaiian culture and help control a return of pre-COVID-19 visitor arrival numbers of more than 10 million, which Green called “not sustainable if we’re not thoughtful about it.”
The latest version of House Bill 2248 funds a North Shore Beach Management Plan from Sunset Point to Sharks Cove to be conducted by the University of Hawaii Sea Grant College Program.
It will look at erosion, recreational impacts and natural preservation for a community “where houses are falling into the ocean,” Green said.
Ultimately, billions will have to be invested in shoreline management across the state to keep Hawaii “spectacular,” Green said.
“It’s going to be a big challenge for us,” he said.
The bill was introduced by state Rep. Sean Quinlan (D, Waialua- Haleiwa-Punaluu), who chairs the House Tourism Committee.
Quinlan called the North Shore “really the canary in the coal mine for the rest of the state.”
He hopes that the management plan will become a model “for what we know is coming in the future.”
Two other bills Green signed Monday also focus on Hawai‘i’s environment.
The latest version of House Bill 2475 attempts to clamp down on unpermitted commercial ocean activities that Green said get amplified on social media.
HB 2475 makes advertisements of unpermitted ocean activities “prima facie evidence” of illegal activity and provides “better grounds for enforcement,” Green said.
The latest version of Senate Bill 2575 makes it illegal to mine, extract and remove seabed mineral in all state waters, with some exemptions. It also prohibits issuing permits for seabed mining.
Many of the 16 bills signed Monday by Green also focus on the environment. They include the latest versions of:
• House Bill 1861, which requires license plates issued after Jan. 1 to include an okina in the word “Hawai‘i” and limits special number plates for environmental conservation to electric vehicles.
• Senate Bill 2182, which extends the sunset date of the Ocean Stewardship Special Fund to Jan. 1, 2031.
• Senate Bill 2721, which clarifies penalties for violating ocean recreation laws.
• House Bill 2478, which authorizes the governor to execute a compact for the state to cooperate in the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission.
• House Bill 2743, which requires the UH Water Resources Research Center and the Sea Grant College Program to develop “an overlay with the Hawai‘i Cesspool Prioritization Tool to identify specific priority areas in which the county sewer system or other centralized treatment system may most feasibly be expanded or constructed to reduce or eliminate cesspools” before Jan. 1, 2050.
• House Bill 2453, which authorizes the governor or a designate to transfer federal capitalization grant funds between the Water Pollution Control Revolving Fund and the Drinking Water Treatment Revolving Loan Fund.
• House Bill 2467, which allows the Board of Land and Natural Resources to approve rent credits for demolition and infrastructure costs for public land leases.
• House Bill 2471, which establishes a framework for the state Department of Land and Natural Resources to inspect lands subject to leases or licenses.
• House Bill 1527, which prohibits animal owners and their employees from performing any surgical procedures on the owners’ pets and makes violations a misdemeanor. The bill also repeals the cruelty to animals law exemption of cropping or docking animals’ ears.
• House Bill 1554, which expands DLNR’s rulemaking authority to impose restrictions to protect certain aquatic life.
• House Bill 1922, which also expands DLNR’s rulemaking authority to protect certain wildlife.
• House Bill 2058, which creates the crime of negligent failure to control a dangerous dog beginning July 1, 2025.
