A tour helicopter official said he’s “perplexed” Gov. Ige signed Senate Bill 3272 into law after announcing he intended to veto the measure, which requires air tour companies to report various details about each flight.
Casey Riemer, special projects manager at Jack Harter Helicopters on Kauai, noted in an email that Ige, in his intent-to-veto statement, said federal preemption prevented the state Department of Transportation from imposing or enforcing the regulations in the bill.
The measure, which became law as Act 311 upon Ige’s signature July 12, also establishes the Air, Noise and Safety Task Force.
“We are looking at all lawful options on what we will do regarding the changes in the Hawaii Revised Statutes related to our operations,” Riemer said. “It is our understanding that the State of Hawaii receives about $70 million in airport grants from the federal government, and we are surprised that the state … is willing to put that funding at risk by passing SB 3272 into law.”
Prior to the bill becoming law, Riemer testified his employer supported the portion of the bill establishing the task force, but called the reporting requirements “unjustly discriminatory” and in violation of requirements to receive Federal Aviation Administration grants, “because tour aircraft operators would be the only type of operation at HIDOT airports required to compile and submit such reports.”
Calvin Dorn, CEO of Paradise Helicopters in Kailua-Kona, also questioned the new law’s requirement that air tour operators be required to submit monthly reports about each tour flight, including the date and time the aircraft took off and landed, the number of individuals aboard the aircraft on each tour, the flight path from takeoff through landing, and any deviations from the intended flight plan.
“The data required for the report is not currently maintained or disseminated,” Dorn testified. “Any data submitted would further be proprietary in nature and should not be made public. Operators would need to expend additional funds for tour operations. Would this requirement also be extended to commercial airlines?”
After Ige’s turnabout, the governor explained why he signed the legislation.
“I know that noise from low-flying aircraft is a big concern for the community, and I believe the task force can help communicate concerns and develop solutions to address the issue,” he said.
The legislation noted that Hawaii residents “must ensure excessive noise that helicopter tours and small aircraft generate.” It also mentions the National Parks Air Tour Management Act of 2000, which established rules for tour operators for flying over national parks, including Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.
“It is in the interest of the state to monitor and ensure that federal regulations are being followed and that the state has the option not to renew a tour aircraft operation permit for any company that repeatedly deviates from flight plans over sensitive areas,” according to the bill.
HVNP in 2018 had the most number of reported commercial air tours in the nation among national parks, according to a National Parks Service report. HVNP currently is in the process of implementing an air tour management plan.
HVNP’S plan-in-progress is the result of a 2020 order by the U.S. Court of Appeals mandating that the National Parks Service and Federal Aviation Administration produce air tour management plans for 23 national parks. The order came as a result of a federal lawsuit seeking injunction by the Hawaii Island Coalition Malama Pono, or HICoP, and the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.
Neither HICoP nor PEER submitted testimony about the air tours legislation, but an Oahu group similar to HICoP, Oahu Tour Helicopter Safety and Noise Interaction Group, filed testimony in support of the measure.
The group criticized a previous task force — the Helicopter Noise and Safety Task Force — as “comprised solely of air tour operators and thus grossly ineffective and unproductive, with no stated goals or objectives and no results, despite clear community involvement during their few public meetings with responsive and respectful professional facilitators.”
The new law requires the new task force to include representatives “from communities impacted by aircraft noise or with safety concerns.”
Dorn disagreed with the Oahu group’s assessment of the task force created in 2019 by the Legislature and state DOT and recently disbanded, saying the panel “seemed to have a constructive dialogue.”
Dorn in his testimony recommended that “each county have at least one representative on the task force,” a recommendation that didn’t make it into the version of the bill codified into law.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.