Bill > SB2002

This bill aims to strengthen the independence and effectiveness of the Commission on Water Resource Management (CWRM) by allowing it to hire its own legal counsel, replacing the position of "First Deputy to the Chairperson" with an "Executive Director" who will be appointed and overseen by the commission itself, and administratively attaching the CWRM to the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) for administrative purposes only, rather than being fully integrated. It also clarifies that members of the CWRM can serve as chairperson, but the Chairperson of the Board of Land and Natural Resources and the Director of Health, while voting ex officio members, cannot be chairperson. Additionally, the bill expands the nominating committee for CWRM members to include a representative appointed by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, allows entities subject to an emergency order to challenge it under certain conditions, refines the requirements for declaring water shortages, and establishes new fines for water use violations, with penalties that can be significant and consider various factors of the violation.

Agriculture and Natural Resources, Justice

https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session/measure_indiv.aspx?billtype=SB&billnumber=2002&year=2026