Big Islanders could have more say in what happens on Maunakea under a new proposal from the state Legislature.
Senate Bill 265, introduced by Oahu Sen. Kurt Fevella, a Republican, would require that any action by the state or the University of Hawaii affecting the Maunakea Science Reserve at the summit be publicly approved by a referendum of all adult Big Island residents becomes.
“We need more transparency on Mauna,” Fevella told the Tribune-Herald on Tuesday. “Anything that has had to do with Maunakea in the last 50 years, the residents of the Big Island are not being told what is going on.”
The bill states that any project in the science reserve that involves “a change in the university’s land use or the construction of a new project, the execution of a new lease, or the renewal of a new lease” must be publicly announced within 30 days Submission of permit application and holding at least three public meetings within four months of such application.
After these meetings, UH would have to hold a referendum on the project at its own expense. If a majority of respondents vote against the project in this referendum, it will be rejected.
Fevella said there are currently no state laws that similarly require a full statewide community vote for approval of a project.
The bill is textually identical to a Fevella bill introduced in 2021 and thus makes no mention of the Maunakea Stewardship and Oversight Authority, a government agency formed last year to eventually assume administration of UH’s science reserve five years from now.
John Komeiji, chairman of the new agency, said he believed the bill would further limit the agency’s powers, but added that the full board had not yet formulated a position on the measure.
“I would suspect that by definition, that would remove some decision-making power from the agency,” Komeiji told the Tribune-Herald on Tuesday. “If people vote against something the agency wants to do, that would be it.”
However, Komeiji added that part of the agency’s purpose is to provide more transparency between summit projects and affected communities.
Though the 2021 law made no progress in either the pandemic-restricted 2021 legislative session or the 2022 legislative session, Fevella said he believes it will pass.
“I don’t see why it shouldn’t be passed,” Fevella said. “It should be our responsibility as lawmakers to make sure the people of the Big Island know what’s going on on Maunakea.”
Outside of Maunakea, the bill would also require referendums on any land-use changes proposed by the Hawaiian Homes Commission or the Departments of Land and Natural Resources and Hawaiian Home Lands. Unlike the Maunakea referendum, these votes would only take place among adult residents living within five miles of the affected country.
SB 265 was referred to six joint Senate committees. You have until March to pass them and cross to the house.
Email Michael Brestovansky at [email protected]