Senate committee passes amended Maunakea management bill
A Senate committee has recommended passage of a bill that would shift management of Maunakea away from the University of Hawaii — sort of.
House Bill 2024 is a controversial measure that would create a new state agency to manage all lands on Maunakea above a specific elevation. The proposal, developed after a legislative working group found fault with UH’s management of the summit lands, has been divisive among lawmakers and citizens alike.
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The Senate Committee on Higher Education approved the bill today after lengthy discussion Tuesday. But while the committee voted unanimously to pass the bill, committee chair Donna Kim introduced amendments to the measure that alter its scope.
Most significant among those amendments is a clause that would place the agency — now called the Maunakea Stewardship and Oversight Authority — within UH-Hilo “for administrative purposes.”
While the amended bill says the authority would “replace the role of the University of Hawaii Board of Regents and the University of Hawaii President,” it also specifies that the executive director of the “Center of Maunakea Management” retain leadership of the authority’s day-to-day operations for a minimum of three years beginning on July 1, 2023. The Center of Maunakea Management presumably refers to UH’s existing Center for Maunakea Stewardship.
Additionally, the bill seems to reduce the scope of the Oversight Authority. Previous drafts of the bill placed all Maunakea lands above 6,500 feet under control of the authority, but the latest draft now specifies only lands above the 9,200-foot level.
The amended bill also establishes a probationary period for the Oversight Authority, requiring an audit of it after seven years of operation. Should that audit find the authority unfit to continue, management of Maunakea “will revert to the University of Hawaii Board of Regents and the University of Hawaii President.”
“I am not convinced that creating an authority from scratch to manage this multifaceted entity will be able to achieve the goals envisioned by the House working group without financially overburdening the taxpayers as well as addressing the needs of the University of Hawaii’s astronomy program,” Kim said during the hearing. “However, I do believe that, as a state, we need to move towards real systematic change in a manner that does not further divide our communities. This proposed Senate draft is by no means a perfect bill, but it does address concerns raised by various state agencies and the community.”
The bill will next be discussed by the Senate Ways and Means Committee. No hearing for that discussion has yet been scheduled.
