Six legislative working groups in Hawaii’s House of Representatives have filed draft reports with recommendations on issues stemming from the Aug. 8 Maui wildfire disaster.
Each working group with focus areas that include wildfire prevention, jobs and replacement housing is scheduled to hold one public meeting later this month before producing final reports by Dec. 15.
Some preliminary recommendations in the draft reports for the Legislature are:
>> Promoting the undergrounding of electrical utility lines in priority fire hazard risk areas and for all new utility line projects.
>> Developing best practices regarding downed power lines and electrical power supplies during times of possible fire ignition.
>> Increasing criminal penalties for arson, currently a misdemeanor, to a fourth-degree offense during red-flag warnings.
>> Limiting consumer fireworks statewide, except by permit for cultural events.
The Aug. 8 fire in Lahaina killed at least 99 people and caused an estimated $5.6 billion in damage primarily to roughly 2,700 structures either destroyed or damaged.
No official cause of the fire has been determined, though many law firms representing plaintiffs harmed by the fire have sued public and private landowners along with Hawaiian Electric alleging that gale-force winds toppled a power line that ignited dry brush on the ground and spread furiously through Lahaina town.
House Speaker Scott Saiki (D, Ala Moana-Kakaako-Downtown) encourages the public to review the draft reports and participate in meetings to give feedback to working group members.
“Over the past eight weeks, each working group has collaborated with federal, state, and county agencies, and community stakeholders to outline key issues and recommendations for the upcoming legislative session,” he said in a statement.
The six bipartisan working groups were formed Sept. 6 to evaluate specific topics related to the Lahaina fire and make recommendations for action in the 2024 session of the state Legislature, which begins in January.
All the reports are available at capitol.hawaii.gov/house.aspxonline.
Findings and recommendations in the draft reports range from general aspirations to detailed suggestions addressing both narrow and broad issues.
For instance, the working group focused on “shelter” said in its draft report that the state needs to prepare for a prolonged gap in housing benefits for more than 3,000 fire evacuee households.
“In 18 to 24 months, many households will likely have to pay a mortgage for a parcel in Lahaina while struggling to cover rent in a different household,” the report said. “This creates the conditions for a possible tragic exodus of families from Hawai‘i who cannot afford the high cost of rent here in the state and the cost of a mortgage for a parcel with no home on it.”
Authors of the same report said the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corp., a state agency that helps finance affordable housing, must expedite and increase funding for pending projects.
A working group focused on environmental remediation recommends appropriating $596,000 to Hui o ka Wai Ola over four years for West Maui coastal water quality testing every three weeks at 25 sites and storm runoff sampling four times at 11 sites.
This group also recommends appropriating $1.8 million to a University of Hawaii at Manoa interdisciplinary team to study contaminants in aquatic life, water and sediments over four years.
A jobs and business working group noted in its draft report that 834 businesses employing about 7,000 people closed in the disaster area and that the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations estimates that there will be enough money in its unemployment compensation trust fund to pay all claims.
This group recommends that the University of Hawaii Maui College receive added resources to expand a career and technical education apprenticeship program. It also encourages nonprofits offering certification classes, training and apprenticeships for living-wage employment opportunities to apply for grants-in-aid from the Legislature.
A working group focused on food, water and other disaster relief supplies recommends that the Hawaii Foodbank receive regular state funding instead of applying for legislative grants-in-aid.
“Most states and cities/counties fund their food banks,” the group’s draft report said. “Hawaii is an outlier in that the Hawaii Food Banks receive no regular operational or food purchase funding outside of the grant-in-aid process.”
The “schools” working group said in its draft report that one of the most prominent concerns is the adequacy of emergency evacuation plans and the need for such plans to be practiced. It noted in the report that a new evacuation route for Lahaina-area public schools was created prior to their reopening in October.
This group also recommends creating a process to quickly hire or reposition state Department of Education personnel to better accommodate distance learning and other learning alternatives so families can more expeditiously opt for such choices.
GET INVOLVED
Wildfire working group meeting schedule at the state Capitol:
Food, Water, and Other Supplies
>> When: Wednesday, 2 p.m.
>> Where: Room 309
Schools
>> When: Nov. 16, 10 a.m.
>> Where: Room 309
Wildfire Prevention
>> When: Nov. 17, 10 a.m.
>> Where: Room 325
Environmental Remediation
>> When: Nov. 17, 1 p.m.
>> Where: Room 309
Shelter
>> When: Nov. 17, 2:30 p.m.
>> Where: Room 329
Jobs and Business
>> When: Nov. 21, 2 p.m.
>> Where: Room 329
To read the wildfire legislative reports online, visit capitol.hawaii.gov/house.aspx.
