A bill to establish a state surfing commission was passed Monday by the Senate Energy, Economic Development and Tourism Committee after a public hearing that included testimony strongly opposing the bill from Hawaiian surfer Keone Downing, winner of the Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational at Waimea Bay in 1990.

Introduced Jan. 23 by Sen. Glenn Wakai, SB 3164 envisions the same structure and intent — to promote Hawaii as the birthplace and epicenter of surfing — as its predecessor SB 1459, which passed the Legislature last session but was vetoed by Gov. David Ige.

Anticipating a boom in the sport’s popularity after the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics, where surfing will make its debut as an event, “The purpose of this Act is to provide for a statewide program to promote surfing and educate people throughout the State, as well as a broader national and international audience, about surfing’s unique connection to Hawaii,” the bill states.

Downing, a former member of the state Board of Land and Natural Resources and member of the environmental group Save Our Surf, disagreed. Taking the mike after representatives from the state Department of Land and Natural Resources and Hawaii Tourism Authority averred their support of SB 3164, “Hawaiian surfing does not need a surf commission to promote it,” he said.

He noted that Hawaii has been revered as a surf mecca and “inundated” by surfers from around the world ever since the 1950s, when a photo of his father, George Downing; Woody Brown; and Buzzy Trent surfing a big Makaha Beach wave ran on the cover of the Los Angeles Times.

“Let’s first focus on our ocean parks,” Downing said, citing a need to protect Hawaii’s ocean environment, and provide better infrastructure and facilities maintenance and more lifeguard coverage.

Downing added that the state and city governments have agencies empowered to handle these needs, which in his opinion made the idea of a commission such as the one envisioned, with no enforcement powers and no money appropriated to it, redundant.

Wakai replied that the bill also was “about restrooms and environmental protections” as well as establishing surfing as a sport in public schools.

He argued that the proposed 14-member advisory board was needed because California has stolen Hawaii’s thunder by claiming surfing as its state sport, and most surf brands and sponsors, such as Hurley and Volcom, are not Hawaii-based and thus take money out of the state.

“We’ve lost the ability to monetize surfing,” Wakai said of the state of Hawaii.

Ige’s rationale for killing the previous bill was that it would place the commission within the state Department of Accounting and General Services, which had no expertise in surfing. The new bill would put the commission with the HTA of the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.

Chris Tatum, president and CEO of HTA, said in an interview that, having “already put $100,000 towards promoting Hawaii as the birthplace of surfing and connecting it with the Olympics in a partnership with World Surf League,” he foresaw HTA funding surf commission initiatives the way it supports other Hawaii- branding projects, such as hula festivals.

On Tatum’s wish list for a surf commission would be supporting Hawaii youngsters who don’t have the financial resources to travel to pro qualifying events, and providing more such competitions in Hawaii.

Wakai pointed out in an interview that having two Hawaii surfers, Carissa Moore and John John Florence, on the four-member U.S. team would likely inspire more local youngsters to compete as well as better position Hawaii to reclaim its surfing renown.

He said he had been pressing USA Surfing, which works in tandem with the International Surfing Association and U.S. Olympic Committee, to establish training sites in Hawaii for the U.S. team.

Greg Cruse, CEO of USA Surfing, said he was looking ahead to the Paris Olympics in 2024 and the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.

For instance, if the Paris Olympics surf meet will be held at Teahupoo, Tahiti, one of the sites under consideration, “I’m going to want (the U.S. team) to practice at Pipeline, the nearest approximation to Teahupoo waves,” Cruse said.

Wakai said that two years ago he convened an advisory group to brainstorm about a surfing commission.

“Stand-up surfing was unique to Hawaii,” a member of the group, John Clark, author of “Hawaiian Surfing,” said in an interview. “That’s what Hawaiians took to the rest of the world, beginning with Prince Kuhio and his brothers when they visited California in 1885.”

Clark said he thought a surfing commission to promulgate the history of Hawaii as the piko (navel) of the sport was a good idea.

For more info, visit legiscan.com/HI/bill/SB3164/2020.