Hawaiʻi 2024 Legislative Review
Friday, May 3 marks the end of the 2024 legislative session. After this date, all bills that have passed through their final conference committees will head to the governor's desk for a final signature or a veto. While a number of Surfrider priority bills remained alive at the session's mid-way point, and thus successfully crossed over to either the house or the senate, we saw many of these bills die in the final weeks. A particularly hard loss was that of Senate Bill 2322, a Surfrider priority bill for the last four years that died in its final conference committee.
What Went Down at the 2024 Legislature
In 2024, Surfrider Foundation tracked 40 bills. Three successfully passed and are awaiting final signature by the Governor.
During the 2024 session, Surfrider Foundation staff and volunteers tracked 40 bills related to the protection of our ocean, waves, and beaches. We submitted 22 testimonies from the regional level, which does not include all the testimony provided by our volunteers. In addition, the Oʻahu Chapter led two "Stoked on Civics" in-person trainings. The training covered important aspects of the legislative session, including how to track and testify on bills. We also sent out regular coastal policy updates via our Policy Newsletter.
In 2024, over 3,000 bills were introduced at the state legislature. According to the Hawaiʻi Legislative Bureau, 90% of all bills donʻt become law. It's especially rare for a bill to pass in its first or even third year. In 2024, we saw more of our priority bills get through the House Finance Committee and Senate Ways and Means Committee than in 2023. Both of these committees "hold the purse strings" so to speak and wield enormous power. If their chairs decide not to schedule a bill, that's essentially the end of the line. Many of our bills last year did not make it through these committees.
The 2024 session was also impacted by the August 2023 Maui and Hawaiʻi fires, most notably of the one that destroyed the town of Lāhainā. Since the state is facing steep costs for the fire cleanup and rebuilding, most bills that included funding (or "appropriations") requests but not related to the fire were slashed. That being said, HB2248 (below) is a coastal preservation bill that DID pass and appropriates $1 million for the UH Sea Grant program to develop a North Shore Beach Management Plan.
While most of our priority bills died (see below), there are still three important bills that passed their final reading and are awaiting signatures from the governor:
- HB2248 - (coastal preservation) Appropriates funds to the university of Hawaiʻi Sea Grant college program to develop a North Shore Beach Management plan for the North Shore of O'ahu from Sunset point to the Kapoʻo (Sharks Cove) area. **This bill was suggested as one of the recommendations in Surfrider Foundation/Surfrider Foundation Oʻahu Chapterʻs 2022 North Shore Coastal Resilience Working Group report.
- HB2743 - (cesspool conversion/clean water) Requires county wastewater plans and authorizes counties to charge cesspool fees to fund grants and loans for conversions
- SB2575 - (deep sea mining/ocean protection) Prohibits the mining, extraction, and removal of minerals from the seabed in all state marine waters, under certain conditions. Prohibits the issuance of any permit for or in connection with the development or operation of any facility or infrastructure associated with the mining, extraction, or removal of minerals from the seabed within state marine waters.
Check out the sections below for more information about some of Surfrider Foundationʻs priority bills and how they fared during the 2024 session. Note - this is not an exhaustive list of the bills that we supported or tracked this year.
Clean Water
Improved Water Quality Monitoring: SB 2322
Bill Sponsor: Senator Shimabukuro
Status: Died in final conference committee
Senate Bill 2322 (SB 2322) would have improved the Department of Healthʻs water quality monitoring program by requiring them to continue their regular testing during brown water advisories at Tier 1 beaches. We have been working on this bill since 2019 and it has seen a number of iterations over the last 5 years. In 2024, SB 2322 made it all the way to its final conference committee where it (along with a handful of cesspool bills) died because a representative from the House Finance Committee failed to show up. A similar bill died in 2021, also in conference committee, due to concerns over additional costs that the bill requirements may entail.
This years bill, however, had the support of the Department of Health, especially after we compromised on a few bill requirements. The bill also did not require any additional funding. We believe SB 2322 died solely because of backdoor politics - not because of its merits. We hope to continue working with the Department of Health to implement this bill - regardless of its status at the state legislature.
We are extremely grateful to Senator Shimabukuro who was a true champion of this bill. She pushed hard and kept it alive, even down to its final days. It is legislators like Senator Shimabukuro who truly make a difference for our coastlines and beaches.
Cesspool Conversions: HB 1892
Bill Sponsor: Representative Lowen
Status: Died in final conference committee
House Bill 1892 (HB 1892) would have set earlier deadlines for cesspool conversions in Priority 1 and Priority 2 cesspool conversion areas. Currently, the state is mandated to convert all of its 83,000 cesspools by 2050. However, these cesspools are discharging 50 million gallons of raw sewage into the State's groundwater and surface waters every day. The Cesspool Conversion Working Group has also prioritized areas for cesspool conversions as either Priority 1, 2 or 3. Priority 1 and 2 areas have cesspools that are directly impacting environmental and public health. Prioritizing and accelerating conversion dates for systems with the most severe impacts would not only provide more timely protection of our groundwater sources, but would also provide a sense of urgency while allowing the industry to gear up for increased demand to convert all of its cesspools by 2050. While an ambitious bill, HB 1892 would have been a critical step forward for reducing cesspool impacts in Hawai'i.
Cesspool Conversions: SB 2425
Bill Sponsor: Senator Gabbard
Status: Died in Ways and Means Committee; Did not cross over to the house
Senate Bill 2425 (SB 2425) would have developed a comprehensive public outreach strategy and website to educate homeowners and wastewater industry professionals about information and resources regarding the State's cesspool upgrade, conversion, and connection requirements and deadlines. It would have also required mandatory seller disclosures in real estate transactions for properties with cesspools. Unfortunately, like many of our cesspool bills from 2023, SB 2425 did not receive a hearing in the Ways and Means Committee, effectively killing the bill early in the process before it could cross over for hearings in the House.
Coastal Preservation
Bill Sponsor: Senator Inouye
Status: Died in Senate Ways and Means Committee; HB1545 (companion bill to SB 2148) made it all the way through the House, crossed over to the Senate, but never got a hearing in the Ways and Means (WAM) Committee. The senate version (SB 2184) also failed to get a WAM hearing.
In 2023, Surfrider Foundation and its partners pushed hard for an ambitious statewide managed retreat bill (HB 756) that would have required the Department of Land and Natural Resources to develop a voluntary buyout program for vulnerable coastal property owners. It died early in the process and, unfortunately, we were told that the state legislature has no appetite for coastal managed retreat bills.
The strategy for the 2024 session was to therefore change tactics and focus on legislation supporting a statewide adaptation pathways program. Adaptation Pathways is a planning tool that has been implemented in vulnerable coastal areas like Santa Cruz, California. Adaptation Pathway Plans would allow the state and counties of Hawai'i to modify and relocate infrastructure away from critically threatened areas to locations outside sea level rise and coastal flooding exposure areas. Adaptation Pathways are inclusive of community input and are also trigger based, meaning that actions by the county or state (like relocation of a road or house) are done based on certain actions that happen in the coastal zone (e.g. the high wash of the waves reaches a certain point or high tides exceed a certain level for a certain time period). This makes the management and relocation of vulnerable infrastructure more transparent and proactive, rather than the reactive process that has occurred on Hawai'i coastlines for the past 150 years.
While it did pass through the House, it did not receive a hearing in the Senate Ways and Means Committee. The bill did include appropriations and, like many appropriation bills this year that were not directly related to the Lāhainā Fire relief, did not move forward at the state level. It is clear that we need to continue to educate lawmakers about the importance of proactive, coastal management solutions.
Statewide Adaptation Pathways: HB 2180
Bill Sponsor: Representative Perruso
Status: Deferred before first committee hearing
While HB 2180 died early in the 2024 legislative session, it flagged for legislators the need to address vulnerable coastal areas, especially those with private property and critical public infrastructure. This bill would have prohibited development in special management areas (i.e. coastal areas) unless the development is first found to not be located in a sea level rise exposure area. We knew this bill was ambitious, but felt the need to head off ill sighted development before it was allowed to be built. We hope that, through continued education of our policymakers, we can see bills like HB 2180 move further through the legislative process in the coming years.
Plastic Pollution
Banning Bioplastic To-Go Containers: HB 2536
Bill Sponsor: Representative Marten
Status: Died in House Consumer Protection & Commerce Committee; did not cross over to the Senate
House Bill 2536 (HB 2536) would have banned PLAs (polylactic acid) bioplastics and other non-biodegradable bioplastics in to-go foodware (to go containers and cups) across Hawaiʻi until there is a regional industrial composting facility that can process these plastic. While Surfrider Foundation strongly supported this bill, it was an extremely ambitious bill for its first time in the state legislature. It was triple referred and did not make it through its second (of three) committees in the House.
While we have a number of county-level bans on disposable plastic to-go containers, many restaurants and stores switched to products that use PLAs. Unfortunately, without a local industrial composting facility to properly dispose of these items, PLA products end up in the county landfills (or H-Power). And since PLAs are a type of plastic (albeit one made of plant-based materials), they also never break down in the landfill. We hope that with new technology and options for industrial composting, bills like HB 2536 will get more traction in the future.
Other Bills
Visitor ʻGreen Fee' Bills/Care for 'Āina Now (CAN)
Over the past few years, a coalition of organizations (and many community members) have supported the concept of a visitor "Green Fee," which is essentially an additional charge that visitors pay to visit and enjoy Hawaiʻi. Hawaiʻi’s ecosystems and natural and cultural resources provide over $6 billion in value to our economy each year, only 1% of our state budget each year is dedicated to our environment. The proceeds of a visitor green fee would be directly invested in local natural resource protection and restoration.
In 2024, the Green Fee Coalition was rebranded as the "Care for ʻĀina Now" (CAN) coalition to supported a wide variety of bills that would have provided critical funding for natural resource protection and restoration. While a number of the CAN bills died this year, including additional fees added to transient accommodations, Senate Bill 3068 did make it to the finish line. SB 3068 appropriates funds to support the State's continued response to the August 2023 wildfires that affected the counties of Hawaiʻi and Maui. The bill dedicates funding to wildfire response, resilience, and restoration.
Green Constitutional Amendment
Surfrider Foundation Hawaiʻi Region has also been a supporter of a Green Constitutional Amendment since it was first introduced at the state level in 2021. If passed, the a constitutional Green Amendment added to the Hawaii constitution would help strengthen environmental protection, environmental justice, and strengthen protection for the cultural and human health benefits of a clean and healthy environment in Hawaiʻi. Currently, only Montana, Pennsylvania, and New York have green amendments that are enshrined in a state's bill of rights. In 2024, SB 2933 only made it through its first committee hearing, and was not scheduled for additional hearings. As natural resources are so closely tied to our local communities in Hawaiʻi, we hope that this bill receives more support in future years.
Bills Heading to the Governor's Desk
As noted above, we are extremely excited to celebrate VICTORIES for the following bills. These bills have passed all of their committees, conferences, and final floor votes and head to the Governorʻs desk.
- HB2248 - (coastal preservation) Appropriates funds to the university of Hawaiʻi Sea Grant college program to develop a North Shore Beach Management plan for the North Shore of O'ahu from Sunset point to the Kapoʻo (Sharks Cove) area.
- HB2743 - (cesspool conversion/clean water) Requires county wastewater plans and authorizes counties to charge cesspool fees to fund grants and loans for conversions
- SB2575 - (deep sea mining/ocean protection) Prohibits the mining, extraction, and removal of minerals from the seabed in all state marine waters, under certain conditions. Prohibits the issuance of any permit for or in connection with the development or operation of any facility or infrastructure associated with the mining, extraction, or removal of minerals from the seabed within state marine waters.
What Happens Next?
After each legislative session, we re-evaluate our priorities and opportunities. Since bills can only be introduced in January of each year, we use the interim to have follow up conversations with our legislators and identify champions for our priority bills. Specifically for SB 2322 (improving state coastal water quality monitoring), we will be following up with the Department of Health to implement the billʻs provisions regardless of its passage.
We will continue to use each legislative session to fight for policies that support a healthy ocean, waves, and beaches. Mahalo to everyone who provided testimony on bills this year or attended the Stoked on Civics training on O'ahu. Onward!