State House lawmakers advanced a bill Thursday that would temporarily give the governor the power to exempt specific types of state construction projects from environmental review if the potential impact is minimal.

The governor would have the authority to establish exemption lists through June 2015. Lawmakers hope that giving the governor such flexibility, along with other changes to the state permitting and procurement process, will enable the state to launch construction projects faster and help with the economic recovery.

"I look at it in terms of jobs," said state Rep. Sharon Har (D, Makakilo-Kapolei), vice chairwoman of the House Water, Land and Ocean Resources Committee, which passed the bill along with the House Energy and Environmental Protection Committee.

Lawmakers deleted a provision from an earlier draft that would have given county mayors the power to create exemption lists for county projects. They also clarified that the governor’s exemption lists are only good for projects approved through June 2015, not indefinitely.

House leaders have described the governor’s exemption power in the bill (Senate Bill 755) as temporary and narrow, meant only for relatively minor state projects. The state Department of Transportation has said that the bill could help the department complete projects in a more timely and efficient manner. Private-sector construction interests also support the bill to help spur the construction industry.

But several state agencies and environmental groups, along with a few lawmakers, have characterized the proposal as a threat to environmental regulation. In addition to granting the governor exemption power, the bill also would allow the DOT and the state Department of Land and Natural Resources to temporarily exempt state projects from special management area permit and shoreline setback variance requirements.

State Rep. Cynthia Thielen (R, Kailua-Kaneohe), an environmental attorney, said the title of the bill should be changed from "Relating to Economic Development" to "Relating to Environmental Devastation."

"I think it is a devastatingly wrong way to go," she said.

Rep. Gil Riviere (R, Schofield-Kahuku) called the bill the "heinous omnibus."

Har said giving the governor the exemption power is intended to address delays in state construction projects, including some projects that would protect public health and safety.

But Thielen countered that the governor already has emergency powers — which Gov. Neil Abercrombie has invoked on several occasions — to suspend environmental and other regulations to complete urgent projects. "Don’t try to hang your hat on health and safety," she told Har, "because that doesn’t hold water."

The state Environmental Council has the power to establish procedures for exempting state projects from environmental assessments, the regulatory process that determines whether environmental impact statements are necessary. Environmentalists have questioned whether the governor is qualified to determine whether state projects will have minimal or no significant effect on the environment.

Environmental groups are also upset that the bill as written would not only reduce the time period for legal challenges by half — to 60 days instead of 120 days — but would also preclude private citizens or interest groups from challenging a state decision to exempt a state project from environmental review. Under the bill only the Environmental Council, the state Office of Environmental Quality Control or a state agency with oversight over the project could challenge an exemption. Har said it was not the House’s intent to preclude lawsuits, describing the language as an oversight that could be corrected if the bill advances.

Gary Hooser, director of the OEQC, said he was extremely disappointed that the House committees took action without fully discussing the potential implications. Both Hooser and Mary Steiner, chairwoman of the Environmental Council, oppose the bill.

Though the bill cleared the two House committees Thursday, it still must be approved by the House Finance Committee and by the full House. The state Senate is interested in streamlining permitting and procurement for state projects but has not sought to give the governor exemption power over environmental review.

House Speaker Calvin Say (D, St. Louis Heights-Wilhelmina Rise-Palolo Valley) said the state projects in question are often subject to numerous state and federal regulations. He said that even if lawmakers temporarily grant the governor exemption power, state projects are still going to be "vetted one way or the other."

The speaker said opponents have overreacted. "The reason why they are overreacting is because people are not reading the bill properly," he said.