North Shore preservation deal brings relief, regret

The state House, swallowing deep misgivings, voted Thursday to give final approval to a bill that would authorize $40 million in state bonds to help preserve 665 acres of bucolic Turtle Bay Resort from future development.

The 48-2 vote was an emphatic endorsement for conservation on Oahu’s North Shore, where the country lifestyle and iconic beaches offer an escape from urban Honolulu and draw tourists from around the world. But lawmakers first had to set aside their frustration with a process many believe was rushed and lacked transparency.

Gov. Neil Abercrombie, the city, the Trust for Public Land and the resort’s developer announced the $48.5 million deal for a conservation easement at Turtle Bay in mid-April, giving lawmakers just days to find a mechanism to finance the state’s $40 million share before the session ended Thursday.

"Do we take a chance of an opportunity to preserve a precious piece of coastline forever, to stop the wheels of development, to give the community time to secure this asset? Or do we let this opportunity slip like sand through our fingers?" Rep. Angus McKelvey (D, Lahaina-Kaanapali-Honokohau) challenged lawmakers.

Through a unique financing scheme, the state and the Hawaii Tourism Authority would restructure debt on the Hawai’i Convention Center and use some of the savings — about $3 million a year in hotel room tax revenue — to pay for debt service on the $40 million in revenue bonds.

The vote was a relief for North Shore preservationists who see the conservation easement as a once-in-a-lifetime chance to protect land at Turtle Bay, including Kawela Bay and Kahuku Point.

"We’re absolutely thrilled with the House passage of this important measure," said Doug Cole, executive director of the North Shore Community Land Trust. "It brings us a huge step forward towards preserving one of Oahu’s only undeveloped coastlines for not just people today, but, more importantly, the kids in the future."

House Bill 2434, which cleared the Senate unanimously Tuesday, now goes to Abercrombie for his signature.

"This vote marks the culmination of years of effort to secure the future of the North Shore," the governor said in a statement. "I’m very pleased my administration was able to play a positive role in bringing the Turtle Bay issue to a successful conclusion. The result will keep the country, country. It will protect pristine coastlines from development. It will provide open space and access for everyone."

Drew Stotesbury, chief executive officer of Turtle Bay Resort, called the agreement a collective effort.

"Like everyone on the North Shore, we are thrilled that the funding of this historic agreement has been approved and thank our lawmakers for supporting this quest to preserve treasured open space," he said in a statement.

Yet many lawmakers felt uncomfortable, even resentful, about the lack of details on the agreement with Turtle Bay and the hurried gymnastics to pass the financing bill before the session ended.

Sen. David Ige (D, Pearl Harbor-Pearl City-Aiea), who came up with the financing idea, and Rep. Sylvia Luke (D, Punchbowl-Pauoa-Nuuanu) agreed to add the language to an unrelated bill on the hotel room tax in conference committee before the April 25 internal deadline for negotiations. The maneuver is known — and often derided — as "gut and replace."

The bill technically had the three readings in the House and Senate required under state law, but the financing scheme never had a public hearing and, many lawmakers contend, was contrary to the spirit of the legislative process.

Luke said that it is "our duty to bend sometimes those rules to accommodate extraordinary situations, and this is one such situation."

But Rep. Marcus Oshiro (D, Wahiawa-Whitmore-Poamoho) said House and Senate leaders could have suspended conference committee rules and held a public hearing on the Turtle Bay deal. He said the Legislature could also have held a special session later.

Oshiro called Abercrombie’s role "a debacle."

"I’ll call it was it is, because it puts every single member — all 76 of us — in a very terrible position of a devil’s bargain," he said. "You win on one hand, you lose on the other hand. Policy good — process bad."

Rep. Sharon Har (D, Kapolei-Makakilo), who was one of the two lawmakers, with Rep. James Tokioka (D, Wailua-Hanamaulu-Lihue) to vote against the bill, invoked past mistakes by the Legislature.

"While opportunity is always a seductive prospect, hindsight has been unkind to the Legislature on issues like the Public Land Development Corp. and the Superferry," she said.

FOR SOME lawmakers there was also the twinge of hypocrisy at work. Environmentalists have often joined with good-government advocates to wail about procedural tools like "gut and replace" when trying to block legislation they oppose. Common Cause Hawaii and the League of Women Voters of Hawaii even came up with a new "Rusty Scalpel" award this year for the worst bill of the session, an award not yet bestowed.

Rep. Della Au Belatti (D, Moiliili-Makiki-Tantalus), herself usually a stickler for process, said legislative work "is not something simply for purists." She said that while purists might nominate the Turtle Bay bill for a Rusty Scalpel, lawmakers had done their due diligence and listened to the community.

Senate President Donna Mercado Kim (D, Kalihi Valley-Moanalua-Halawa), who has sought to limit the use of "gut and replace" as a tool, said that "there are oftentime measures that rise to the level of having things waived. Our whole purpose of being here is to be able to facilitate good things for our state, to be able to implement good legislation that will benefit our people.

"If we let our rules dictate everything, sometimes we’re not going to be able to accomplish that."

While Turtle Bay dominated the last day of the 60-day session, other issues were also settled.

The House killed a bill that would have explored a state land exchange with Castle & Cooke to help acquire and preserve some 20,000 acres of Dole Food Co. land between Wahiawa and the North Shore in agriculture.

House Majority Leader Scott Saiki (D, Downtown-Kakaako-McCully) had informed Sen. Donovan Dela Cruz (D, Wheeler-Wahiawa-Schofield), the bill’s sponsor, that the bill might die over Dela Cruz’s refusal to attend a conference committee Monday on an unrelated manufacturing taxcredit bill.

Kim had asked House leaders not to kill the bill, explaining that she should not have allowed the manufacturing tax credit bill to go to conference without first checking with Dela Cruz.

But House Speaker Joseph Souki (D, Waihee-Waiehu-Wailuku) told reporters Thursday that some lawmakers thought more work needed to be done on the land exchange bill. He said the bill was not deferred to punish Dela Cruz.

"No, we don’t believe in retaliation," Souki said.

Lawmakers approved a bill that would increase the salary cap for the state schools superintendent to $250,000, up from $150,000, which would make the salary more comparable to superintendents of school districts of similar size on the mainland.

The Senate gave final approval to a bill, previously passed by the House, that would make permanent the liability protections for warning signs for outdoor recreation on public lands. Senators also passed a bill that would require lobbyists to disclose spending within 30 days of special sessions, a response to the lobbying activity during the special session on gay marriage last year.

Lawmakers also said farewell to some of their colleagues.

Ige, chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, is challenging Abercrombie in the Democratic primary. Several senators warmly praised the soft-spoken engineer as a humble lawmaker and well-rounded family man.

In his farewell speech after nearly three decades in the House and Senate, Ige mentioned his work in advancing the state technologically while improving public access, enacting education reform, establishing charter schools, adopting auto insurance reform, pushing for Hawaiian-language immersion education and implementing the Senate’s effort to go paperless.

"We may not agree on all the issues, but it’s very clear that we are all committed to serve the people of Hawaii and do the best that we can on their behalf," Ige told senators. "So I want to thank you for 29 years of the best experience of my life. I am energized and excited about my future and wish you all the best."

In the House, lawmakers recognized Rep. K. Mark Takai (D, Halawa-Aiea-Newtown), who is running for Congress, Rep. Richard Fale (R, Waialua-Kahuku-Waiahole), who is running for state Senate, and Rep. Jessica Wooley (D, Kahaluu-Ahuimanu-Kaneohe), the new director of the state Office of Environmental Quality Control.

Takai, who has served in the House for two decades, said that "we are all here in the Legislature to make a difference," adding, "We come to work with a purpose and a reason for living, because there are so many people depending on us to succeed. And over the past 20 years, I know we have all made a positive impact in Hawaii and its people."

Unofficially, the House also likely marked the end of the leadership coalition between Souki, dissident Democrats and minority Republicans, which will probably not survive after this year’s elections.

House Minority Leader Aaron Ling Johanson (R, Fort Shafter-Moanalua Gardens-Aliamanu) said the coalition has shown that "bipartisan cooperation and leadership is not only possible, but also an effective way to govern and to put the public first."