Three bills signed by the late state Sen. Gil Kahele hours before his death this past January, are moving full steam ahead through the House.
Three bills signed by the late state Sen. Gil Kahele hours before his death this past January, are moving full steam ahead through the House.
The measures each cleared their second House readings this week and are next headed to the House Committee on Finance.
“I’m very encouraged they’ve made it this far,” said Hilo Democrat Sen. Kai Kahele, the late Gil Kahele’s son and successor. “Thousands of bills are introduced at the beginning of every session and very few ever get to the governor’s desk. The main thing is, these bills moved.”
Measures haven’t made it through without amendments. Senate Bill 3071, which calls for the state to purchase the makai land at Kapua Bay in South Kona, where Gil Kahele was from, would now require the Department of Land and Natural Resources to report to the Legislature every three months starting July 1 on the status of the land negotiations. The measure also now sets a Dec. 31 date for the DLNR to aim to reach an agreement, and now appropriates a half-million dollars to conduct property assessments on the land and to fund negotiations.
Senate Bill 3072, which would establish a five-member airport authority to oversee the state’s 15 airports, would now attach the authority administratively to the Department of Transportation. The authority would still be an autonomous agency, Kahele said, as the DOT’s Airport Division would cease.
Senate Bill 3073 which would appropriate funding for a school of aviation at the University of Hawaii’s Hilo campus, was amended to establish instead, a six-year initial pilot program — rather than a permanent school.
The pilot program would be terminated if the school is not deemed financially independent after six years, set as June 30, 2022.
Two concurrent resolutions to establish a “Gil Kahele Aero Technology Campus” in Hilo which would serve as a statewide hub for all things aerospace, aeronautics and aviation, have also cleared first committee hearings and have been referred to the Senate Committee on Ways and Means.
Kahele, who helped his ailing father sign the measures from his hospital bed before he died in January, said he isn’t concerned amendments changed any of the bills too much.
Kahele is a pilot for Hawaiian Airlines and a decorated Iraq and Afghanistan military veteran. He was appointed in February by Gov. David Ige to fill his father’s empty seat until the primary. He said recent weeks have been challenging but rewarding: Last week, he teamed up with Keaukaha Elementary School students and staff to push for a resolution to fund a full service, conventional cafeteria at the school, a moment he called gratifying.
He added he’s “100 percent all in” to run in the general elections later this year.
“I met the kids, heard the issues, did some research and uncovered some of the peel back,” Kahele said. “What we did this week I’ve found really gratifying. I’ve only been here a month and a half but I think people realize the governor made a (good) pick.
“But they got a little more than they bargained for with (another) Senator Kahele,” he added with a laugh.