The Hawaii County Council wants the state Legislature to pursue bills to better regulate vaping and allow counties more control over dangerous roads.
At a Tuesday meeting of the council’s Committee on Governmental Operations and External Affairs, Hamakua Councilwoman and council Chair Heather Kimball presented a resolution identifying two new legislative proposals and priorities to be passed on to the Hawaii State Association of Counties for inclusion in its 2024 legislative package.
The new proposals included a bill that would repeal a 2018 state bill nullifying county restrictions on the sale of tobacco products.
According to the bill, the 2018 bill enacted uniform statewide regulations on tobacco product sales, including electronic cigarettes, in an effort to establish consistent clean indoor air laws. Since then, however, youth vaping rates have gone up, with a 2019 survey determining that 18% of Hawaii middle school students and 31% of high school students are habitual vapers.
“In order to end this youth vaping epidemic, the state must work in concert with youth, parents and educational institutions, and laws must be changed at all levels of government to establish reasonable restrictions on … these addictive products,” reads the draft bill.
The bill would therefore strike the language of the 2018 bill and restore the ability of the counties to establish their own tobacco restrictions.
The other proposed bill would allow a county to exert regulations and restrictions on roadways “in sensitive areas” if the road is determined to be hazardous or have a negative impact on endangered species or cultural sites.
Kimball said this proposal was drafted to help the county manage the Waipi‘o Valley Road problem, where a public road has been deemed largely unsafe for heavy traffic use.
“The hope is that, with something like this in place, we could employ a model like Ha‘ena (State Park on Kauai) for Waipi‘o Valley, which would allow to limit access to a certain number of permits per day,” Kimball said. “We don’t have that authority, right now.”
Kimball added that the list of legislative priorities isn’t necessarily complete, either, and further measures could be added at future council meetings.
Puna resident Jan Marshall testified at Tuesday’s meeting, urging the council to include legislation that could alleviate the burgeoning insurance crisis in Puna. Earlier this year, the last major home insurance provider in the area announced it is exiting the Hawaii home insurance market, leaving homeowners’ only option for insurance in Lava Zones 1 and 2 to be a state provider of last resort whose premiums are several times higher than the departing provider’s.
“Without insurance, the housing market will collapse as mortgages will not be available, and a lot of vulnerable people will not be able to keep their homes,” Marshall wrote. “This is a very serious problem for the Island of Hawaii that will impact many residents as well as ultimately the tax revenue of the county.”
Kimball said Tuesday that the package of proposals is only a preliminary step in a longer process by the Association of Counties. Each county’s council is developing similar packages, which will be vetted by the association’s executive committee, which will in turn distill all those proposals into a final combined package to be voted upon again by the constituent counties.
The two proposals join a list of six previously identified priorities, including:
— Legislation that would allow counties to impose and enforce policies regulating those who own or keep a dog that has injured, maimed or killed a person or pet;
— A bill that would increase avenues to legally sell or donate wild-caught ungulate meat, such as by increasing the number of meat inspectors on neighbor islands;
— A measure that would develop improved paths for people to become licensed midwives and the legalization of traditional midwifery;
— Bills that would extend the responsibility of producers to limit solid waste;
— Legislation that would increase mental health service providers for children and adolescents in rural counties;
— And a measure that would help finance residential cesspool conversions.
Email Michael Brestovansky at mbrestovansky@hawaiitribune-herald.com.