Mauna Kea governance bill appears dead

A bill to revamp the governance of public lands on Mauna Kea appears to be dead in the state House after Finance Committee Chairwoman Sylvia Luke said she will not consider the measure.

However, bill sponsor Sen. Kai Kahele plans to press the issue and intends to insert a revised version of his proposal for an authority to manage Mauna Kea into an unrelated House bill that will be heard Thursday.

Even the amended version of the measure will have an extremely difficult time winning approval in the House if Luke and other House leaders continue to oppose the idea. Luke said Monday that House members watched some of the discussion on the bill in the Senate, “and it was pretty clear there is very little support for the bill.”

“I think it’s premature. The discussion needs to happen on a statewide basis, and the Legislature, being what it is in hearing bills within a 60-day process to come to a solution, is not the right approach, because I don’t think this can be resolved within 60 days,” said Luke (D, Punchbowl-Pauoa- Nuuanu). “It needs to have more community engagement and talking to various groups and the Big Island communities. It’s bigger than what the Legislature can do right now.”

Senate Bill 3090 has stalled in the House Finance Committee since March 8 and appears to be dead.

Kahele has now developed a new draft of his proposal that lawmakers plan to insert into House Bill 1985 during a joint hearing Thursday morning by the Senate Higher Education, Water and Land, and Ways and Means committees.

The latest draft of Kahele’s bill would create a new Mauna Kea Management Authority and limit the number of telescopes on Hawaii’s tallest mountain to no more than 13 at any time. It also would reduce the number of telescopes to nine by 2028 on what is regarded as one of the finest sites for astronomy in the world.

The new nine-member state management authority would include five Native Hawaiian members and two members who are cultural practitioners or descended from practitioners. Other members would include two business experts, a land management expert and an astronomy expert not affiliated with the existing Mauna Kea observatories.

The authority would renegotiate leases to increase rents to at least fair market value to generate revenue.

Nonresidents and commercial tour operators would be required to register and pay a fee to access the summit, but locals would be allowed access for free. Most summit visits, including those by locals, would be by shuttle, and the measure proposes to eliminate commercial tours to the summit by 2020.

The state Department of Land and Natural Resources, the University of Hawaii, the Mauna Kea observatories and also opponents of the proposed Thirty Meter Telescope have all opposed earlier versions of the bill.

DLNR and UH, which controls the 11,288-acre Maunakea Science Reserve, said they have become better caretakers and managers of the land since a 1998 state audit criticized state management of the mountain.

The opponents of the TMT say the proposed new management authority would do nothing to stop development of the $1.4 billion telescope proposed for Mauna Kea.

Kahele (D, Hilo) said he has been holding hearings around the state to solicit the kind of community feedback that Luke wants to see, “and the message I’ve heard is crystal clear, and that’s that something needs to change. Something has to change on Mauna Kea, and it is time for the Legislature to take action.”