House Speaker Scott Saiki has appointed six working groups to address a large range of issues relating to the Lahaina fire and wants them to come back with bills to be considered during the next legislative session.

“There are a lot of unanswered questions,” Saiki said.

And no shortage of complex issues to address, such as how the “Wildfire Prevention” working group should come up with legislation to identify the causes of wildfires and what actions should be taken to prevent them.

“They’ll have to focus on short-term solutions, medium- and long-term solutions … for areas that are currently at risk,” Saiki said.

The working group will have to consider how to address land owned by the federal government, the state, counties, private entities and nonprofit organizations, Saiki said.

“How do you protect these at-risk areas?” he asked.

The other working groups are:

>> Environmental remediation, which will evaluate the cleanup of ground and ocean contamination.

>> Food, water and other supplies, which will evaluate distribution for fire evacuees.

>> Jobs and business, which will track Maui’s unemployment rate and efforts to restart business activity and the impacts of tourism statewide.

>> Schools, which will evaluate the strategies to address displaced students and the return of school staff.

>> Shelter, which will evaluate temporary and transitional shelter for evacuees.

Saiki does not expect the working groups to hold hearings with testimony. Instead, he expects the House members of each group to do their own research and present their findings.

“Their proposals should be specific, as specific as possible,” Saiki said.

Saiki has scheduled each group to produce a draft report by Nov. 1, followed by a final report on Dec. 15. Each group will then expire Jan. 17.

Asked about a recommendation that the Legislature create a new authority to oversee what happens next for Lahaina, Saiki said the proposal by the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization has drawn little interest.

“So far, no,” Saiki said. “My general feeling is that the community needs to weigh in on a proposal like that. It’s a lot to consider at this point in time.”

Saiki does not plan to ask the state Department of Budget and Finance to track the flow of federal dollars at a “macro” level. The Federal Emergency Management Agency will reimburse for some state and county expenditures.

But Saiki said it will be more difficult to monitor how donated money will be spent.

“Foundations are going to have to be careful how they spend donated funds,” he said.