PLDC could divide state like Superferry once did

Act 55 is the formal title of the red-hot issue of the summer: the state’s Public Land Development Corp.

At first, Act 55 was a little-noticed product of freshman Sen. Donovan Dela Cruz, the former Honolulu City Council chairman. But the bill, once vetted by Hawaii’s active environmental community, raised alarms across the state.

The idea was to allow the state to go into business with private developers to build things on state land. A portion of the profit from the deal would go to the state’s Department of Land and Natural Resources.

The sweetener would be that the developer would not have to abide by all the regular environmental safeguards that regular developers must follow. Also the PLDC would be able to ignore many county ordinances.

It took a year for the PLDC to come up with a set of rules to follow. Taking the proposed rules around the state for public hearings was the match to the fuse of a public firestorm.

Within weeks of the heavily attended and largely protested public hearings, Gov. Neil Abercrombie was on Kauai where he was booed while trying to explain Act 55.

Two of the four county councils passed resolutions calling on the 2013 Legislature to repeal or rework the measure. And the head of the Hawaii State Association of Counties, Kauai Councilman Mel Rapozo, says the HSAC was flooded with 800 emails asking that a repeal of Act 55 be requested.

If the HSAC has not yet reached the critical mass of all four counties supporting the repeal request, Senate President Shan Tsutsui recognizes Act 55 is a troublesome issue.

"People say it is too broad and has too many exemptions," Tsutsui said in an interview. "Many legislators, including myself, have a lot of concerns."

The Maui Democrat said that to start the discussion, he would introduce legislation to both repeal and amend the act. When he told Abercrombie about his plans, Tsutsui said the governor’s office was strongly opposed.

"They said they didn’t want me to do that — it sends a bad message," Tsutsui said.

Asked for comment, Donalyn Dela Cruz, Abercrombie’s deputy director of communications, said, "What the governor has said to various lawmakers is they should take a look at the law before being quick to repeal.

"The governor sees the potential of the PLDC," Dela Cruz said.

The issue may become a test of political wills because Abercrombie, when asked in a September interview if he would veto a repeal of Act 55, said: "Of course I would."

Tsutsui said he hoped Abercrombie and the Act 55 supporters would come up with a compromise: perhaps suggest a specific target project at a special school and see if the idea would work, instead of the broadside exemptions to state and county laws and ordinances.

"Maybe we need to pilot it. That way, we can start small. Unfortunately in this case, I think we bit off more than we can chew," Tsutsui said.

The issue is already reverberating. The PLDC came up with suggested guidelines and said it would have only one public hearing, drawing quick criticism from the Sierra Club.

But Maui community leader Mahina Martin is welcoming Tsutsui’s action because of the PLDC’s response.

"The PLDC continues to demonstrate a serious lack of genuine respect for the public and I’m very puzzled as to why the governor draws a line in the sand with regards to the PLDC," she said in an email interview.

Martin, the former Maui County communications director, tactfully suggested that the Legislature and the governor need a "course correction" before a bad idea divides the state like the Superferry disaster.

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Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Reach him at rborreca@staradvertiser.com.