Much like the city ordinances that allow police to roust the homeless from public sidewalks, Gov. David Ige’s administration has proposed legislation that would criminalize trespassing on all state lands. If passed, the measure could become a useful addition to the government’s toolbox addressing homelessness — albeit far from a solution.

Senate Bill 2816, which is up for a House floor vote, would give the state a tool that parallels Honolulu’s law banning sitting and lying down on sidewalks, which has helped reduce the number of homeless visible in Waikiki, downtown and other areas.

The city used its ordinances to dismantle encampments in Kakaako last fall, but many of those who were displaced simply moved to nearby state land, including Kakaako Waterfront Park and Kewalo Basin. The state has had little success in reducing the homeless population in those areas, and more clarity in the criminal-tresspass laws could bolster its efforts.

Currently, criminal-tresspass laws don’t apply to improved state lands — land that’s built or improved in some way — and it’s unclear whether Hawaii’s trespass laws apply to state land under freeways or in boat harbors. Those who drive past the airport viaduct or visit the Waianae Boat Harbor know that those areas have become magnets for hundreds of unsheltered individuals and families, and that has increased problems of public access and safety.

Although opponents of the legislation say it needlessly criminalizes homelessness, the state contends it is not a measure that targets only the homeless. Under SB 2816, a person commits criminal trespass, a petty misdemeanor, on state lands if he or she enters or remains unlawfully when the land is closed to public use and its closure hours are posted on a sign or signs, or if the land is not open to the public. The bill broadly defines state land as “all land owned by the State through any of its departments or agencies” but also specifies land “on or under any highway.”

As it is, chronic encampments at the Nimitz viaduct and under an H-1 freeway overpass across Harding Avenue necessitate cleanups twice yearly; each sweep costs $250,000 to $300,000.

If lawmakers pass SB 2816, they cannot ignore that future enforcement could further clog the judicial system with “nuisance” cases. It would behoove legislators also to pass a separate bill to create and fund a mobile court to handle the overload of cases, traveling to community centers and shelters. Such a pilot project would place the court system in places more accessible to the unsheltered population, and focus on manageable solutions such as community service.

There is no question it will take a multi-pronged approach to reduce the highest per capita rate of homeless in the nation, which is in excess of 7,000. That’s why it’s so perplexing that many homeless initiatives proposed this session have gotten a cold reception from state lawmakers.

Among them: the state’s effort to convert a Kakaako maintenance shed into a unique homeless shelter for families, which is already running three months behind schedule. Ige had requested spending $900,000 in annual operating costs for the shelter, but a House bill provides no money, and a Senate version includes only $450,000, half of the requested amount.

Homelessness and emergency shelters are just the front end of a housing continuum that ends with permanent, affordable homes. As it pertains to this end, Ige has declared the homeless issue an emergency, but any sense of urgency seems lacking at the state Capitol.

State legislators need to work with the Ige administration to get people off the streets — and that requires giving the state the authority to clear trespassers from state lands as well as adequately funding shelters and the pilot mobile court.