A bill to reorganize the management of Maunakea has been changed yet again.
After a Friday meeting of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, House Bill 2024, which is intended to transfer authority of the Maunakea summit lands to a newly formed state entity, passed with additional amendments that allow the University of Hawaii to retain control of astronomy on the Big Island.
While the earliest drafts of the bill would remove UH from having any management of Maunakea land, the previous Senate draft would place a new state entity within the university for administrative purposes. Now, the newest amendments give UH joint authority over summit lands alongside a new state entity.
Oahu Sen. Donavan Dela Cruz, chair of the committee, said UH would retain authority over the Astronomy Precinct — the 525-acre special land use zone where the Maunakea Observatories are located — Halepohaku, and the Maunakea Access Road.
The Maunakea Stewardship and Oversight Authority, the new agency created by the bill, would take over management of the remaining 9,450 acres above the 9,200-foot level.
Existing leases between the state, UH and the Board of Natural Resources will remain in place, Dela Cruz said. But within a year of the Oversight Authority’s formation, UH will be required to sublease the 9,450 acres to the Oversight Authority.
“The joint oversight structure addresses the perceived threat to the future of astronomy in our state through a collaborative sharing of management duties and responsibilities between the Authority and (UH),” Dela Cruz said. “The current administrative organization under the aegis of (UH-Hilo) will be kept in place, and will continue to service the operational and staff needs of both the new Authority and the university, thereby avoiding any additional costs associated with creating … two separate administrative structures.”
The new draft, like the previous, provides for an eventual audit of the Oversight Authority, which may cause the state to return management of the mountain to UH.
Other amendments to the bill require UH to develop a framework for returning the astronomy research lands to their natural state “upon loss of academic or research value of ground-based observatories,” while also preparing for a renewal of the state land lease for both UH and the Oversight Authority.
The bill also declares that astronomy is “a policy of the state.”
With the amended bill passing the Ways and Means committee unanimously, the bill now will face final reading in the Senate and, after that, conference committees with both House and Senate legislators.
Email Michael Brestovansky at mbrestovansky@hawaiitribune-herald.com.