Bill Text: HI SB2645 | 2018 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Relating To The Environment.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2018-03-21 - Passed Second Reading as amended in HD 1 and referred to the committee(s) on FIN with none voting aye with reservations; none voting no (0) and Representative(s) Ing, C. Lee, McKelvey, Souki, Todd, Ward excused (6). [SB2645 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2018-SB2645-Amended.html
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THE SENATE |
S.B. NO. |
2645 |
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TWENTY-NINTH LEGISLATURE, 2018 |
S.D. 2 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
H.D. 1 |
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A BILL FOR AN ACT
RELATING TO THE ENVIRONMENT.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
SECTION 1. The legislature finds that the case of Unite Here! Local 5 v. The City and County of Honolulu, 124 Hawaii 171 (2010), examined environmental impact statements and whether or not approved environmental impact statements have expiration dates. The Hawaii supreme court ruled against the assumptions that an environmental impact statement is indefinitely valid once completed and approved for a project, and that there is no time sensitivity as to the actual start and end date of the proposed project. The legislature further finds that many large scale projects that require an environmental impact statement take years longer than initially anticipated and go beyond the time period of potential impacts examined in the environmental impact statement. Although state law lacks an explicit time frame of validity for an environmental impact statement, section 11-200-26, Hawaii Administrative Rules, requires a supplemental environmental impact statement when a project with an approved environmental impact statement has changed substantively in size, scope, intensity, use, location, or timing. The legislature finds that while a supplemental environmental impact statement may ensure consideration of an action that is essentially different from the action proposed under the original environmental impact statement, the drafting, submission, and approval of a supplemental environmental impact statement adds costs to projects that are often already expensive. Therefore, the legislature concludes that establishment of an explicit time frame of validity for an environmental impact statement, in combination with mandatory community involvement during periods of construction delay, may ensure that an environmental impact statement does not go stale, without need for triggering a costly supplemental environmental impact statement in every situation.
The purpose of this Act is to establish a task force to evaluate the process of executing a delayed construction project that has not commenced within ten years of acceptance of its environmental impact statement.
SECTION 2.
(a) There is established within
the department of health a task force to evaluate the process of executing a
delayed construction project that has not commenced within ten years of
acceptance of its environmental impact statement and obtaining a supplemental
environmental impact statement for the delayed construction process.
(b) The
task force shall consist of the following members:
(1) The director of environmental quality control or the director's designee, who shall serve as the chair of the task force;
(2) The director of agriculture or the director's designee;
(3) The chairs of the standing committees of the senate whose subject matter jurisdiction relate to the environment and land;
(4) The chairs of the standing committee of the house of representatives whose subject matter jurisdiction relates to the environment and land;
(5) A representative of the General Contractors Association of Hawaii;
(6) A representative of the Building Industry Association of Hawaii; and
(7) A representative of the Land Use Research Foundation of Hawaii.
Task
force members may recommend additional members with appropriate specialized
expertise to the task force, with the approval of the chairperson.
(c)
In carrying out its duties, the task force shall address:
(1) The factors that may substantially affect and delay the process in which a construction project can proceed, including the availability of financing, interest rates, and market conditions for the product type being developed;
(2) The
applicability of a supplemental environmental impact statement for delayed
construction projects that have not commenced within ten years of acceptance of
its initial environmental impact statement;
(3) Alternatives
for obtaining a supplemental environmental impact statement for a delayed
construction project, including:
(A) Exercising due diligence with respect to any changes in the community where the project is planned, including but not limited to community population changes, zoning changes, compatibility with land use plans, and secondary effects on the community, such as changes in traffic flow or visual blight; and
(B) Holding community discussion and feedback sessions in which relevant and newly discovered information surrounding the project, including social, environmental, and economic concerns, to be shared with the community in which the project is being constructed;
(4) The impact that additional public hearings may have on the timetable of delayed construction projects; and
(5) The applicability of establishing alternatives to a supplemental environmental impact statement for capital improvement projects undertaken on state-owned agricultural lands and irrigation water systems.
(d) Members of the task force shall serve without compensation, but shall be reimbursed for reasonable expenses incurred, including travel expenses. No member of the task force shall be made subject to chapter 84, Hawaii Revised Statutes, solely because of that member's participation as a member of the task force.
(e) The task force shall submit a report of its findings and recommendations, including proposed legislation, to the legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the regular session of 2019.
(f) The department of health shall provide administrative and clerical support required by the task force.
(g) The task force shall be dissolved on June 30, 2019.
SECTION 3. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $ or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2018-2019 for the task force established pursuant to this Act.
The sum appropriated shall be expended by the department of health for the purposes of this Act.
SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2050.
Report Title:
Environmental Impact Statement; Delayed Construction; Task Force
Description:
Establishes a task force to evaluate the process of executing a delayed construction project that has not commenced within ten years of acceptance of its environmental impact statement. (SB2645 HD1)
The summary description
of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is
not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.
