Report Title:

2050 Sustainability Plan for Hawaii

Description:

Creates a task force to review the Hawaii state plan and make recommendations for the Hawaii 2050 Sustainability Plan. Requires the Auditor to prepare the Hawaii 2050 Sustainability Plan. (CD1)

THE SENATE

S.B. NO.

1592

TWENTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2005

S.D. 1

STATE OF HAWAII

H.D. 2

C.D. 1

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

RELATING TO STATE PLANNING.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. Hawaii is a unique and beautiful state. For many, it is the ideal place to live and is second to none for providing a preferred quality of life. However, to improve or even maintain the quality of life in this State, the legislature finds that planning the overall theme and goals of the State is important to our future success.

The legislature realizes that there are many real, serious, and immediate problems that our State faces on an annual basis. While it is the government's responsibility to resolve those issues, it is also government's responsibility to keep a watchful eye on the future and guide the State in the right direction for succeeding generations.

Thus, the legislature believes that the time has come to review the precepts of the Hawaii state plan and other fundamental components of community planning. Specifically, many quality-of-life issues, including water quality, air quality, land use, energy, and ocean resources, are important to the people of Hawaii and should be the focus for planning Hawaii's future.

The purpose of this Act is to:

(1) Establish a Hawaii 2050 task force to review the Hawaii state plan and other fundamental components of community planning, and to develop recommendations on creating the Hawaii 2050 sustainability plan; and

(2) Require the auditor to prepare the Hawaii 2050 sustainability plan to define and implement state goals, objectives, policies, and priority guidelines, incorporating some or all of the recommendations of the Hawaii 2050 task force;

to aid in the future long-term development of the State.

SECTION 2. Hawaii 2050 task force; establishment; membership; appointment; compensation; duties. (a) There is established a Hawaii 2050 task force to review the Hawaii state plan and other fundamental components of community planning.

The task force shall consist of twenty-five members as follows:

(1) Four members from the senate appointed by the senate president;

(2) Four members from the house of representatives appointed by the speaker of the house of representatives;

(3) A representative of the governor appointed by the governor;

(4) The director of the state office of planning or the director's designee;

(5) The auditor or the auditor's designee;

(6) Two members from the University of Hawaii's school of urban and regional planning to be appointed by the president of the University of Hawaii; and

(7) Three members from each county, with at least one member from each county being the departmental director of the appropriate county planning department or agency or the director's designee; provided that the mayor of each county shall appoint the representatives for each respective county.

(b) The state office of planning shall assist the task force in performing its duties as required under this Act. In carrying out its duties under this Act, the task force may also request staff assistance from the department of budget and finance; department of business, economic development, and tourism; department of transportation; department of land and natural resources; and other appropriate state and county agencies.

(c) The members of the task force shall select the chairperson of the task force and shall be reimbursed for expenses, including travel expenses, necessary for the performance of their duties.

(d) The task force shall review, solicit input on, and develop recommendations for the creation of the Hawaii 2050 sustainability plan to ensure its relevance as a guide for the future long-term development of the State and report to the legislature and the governor on creating the plan. The task force shall also submit recommendations that include but are not limited to:

(1) Whether the goals, objectives, policies, and priorities for the State as envisioned in the Hawaii state plan and the quality growth policy developed pursuant to chapter 223, Hawaii Revised Statutes, are in need of amendment;

(2) Whether the existing bases for determining priorities; allocating limited resources, such as public funds, services, human resources, land, energy, water, and other resources; and improving coordination of federal, state, and county plans, policies, programs, projects, and regulatory activities are adequate and, if not, a recommendation on how to improve them;

(3) A listing of Hawaii's inherent economic assets and how best to use those assets to define Hawaii's role in the global economy;

(4) How to forecast vocational needs within the State and direct the education and training of Hawaii's workforce to ensure that Hawaii residents learn marketable skills in secondary school, university, and adult training programs;

(5) The development of a framework to ensure that traffic congestion, pollution, and other adverse effects caused by population and economic growth are mitigated;

(6) An assessment of the tools needed for the private sector to better compete in the global economy and the means to improve Hawaii's balance of trade by increasing exports and reducing imports, and whether these tools would have any adverse economic or environmental impact on the State and its residents; and

(7) How best to engage the community in a public discussion to achieve a consensus on the State's preferred future, and coordinate the actions needed to sustain a growing and vibrant economy, while maintaining a high quality of life for all residents and visitors.

The task force shall develop criteria or benchmarks as necessary to assist in the development of measuring incremental compliance with task force recommendations enacted into law or adopted as policies by governmental agencies and in guiding budgetary priorities.

SECTION 3. Report. The task force shall submit a report on its recommendations, including any implementing legislation, to the legislature and to the auditor no later than twenty days before the convening of the regular session of 2006.

SECTION 4. Hawaii 2050 sustainability plan. (a) After receipt of the task force's report, the office of the auditor shall prepare the Hawaii 2050 sustainability plan. The plan shall be prepared to define and implement state goals, objectives, policies, and priority guidelines using sections 226-3 to 226-27, Hawaii Revised Statutes, as guiding principles. The auditor shall seek input from all state departments. The auditor shall also solicit public views and concerns in preparation of the plan and shall incorporate all or a portion of the recommendations reported by the Hawaii 2050 task force.

The plan shall serve as a guideline for funding and implementation by state and county agencies. The office of planning shall assist the auditor in reviewing the plan.

(b) The auditor shall submit the sustainability plan to the legislature no later than twenty days before the convening of the regular session of 2007.

(c) The auditor, with the assistance of the office of planning, shall update the plan every ten years and report to the legislature.

SECTION 5. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $25,000 or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2005-2006 and the same sum or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2006-2007 for the review and recommendations of the Hawaii state plan and other fundamental components of community planning to be performed by the Hawaii 2050 task force.

The sums appropriated shall be expended by the office of the auditor for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 6. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $75,000 or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2005-2006 and the same sum or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2006-2007 for creating the Hawaii 2050 sustainability plan.

The sums appropriated shall be expended by the office of the auditor for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 7. The Hawaii 2050 task force shall cease to operate after the adjournment sine die of the 2007 regular session of the legislature.

SECTION 8. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2005.