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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN GREDC 2017/11/01 (2016-2018)Committee on Governmental Relations and Economic Development 12th Session Hawaii County Building 25 Aupuni Street Hilo, Hawaii November 1, 2017 CALL TO The regular meeting of the Committee on Governmental Relations and Economic ORDER: Development was called to order at 9:05 a.m., in the Council Chambers, Hilo, by Dru Mamo Kanuha, Chair. ROLL CALL: Present: Mr. Dru Mamo Kanuha, Chair Ms. Jennifer Ruggles, Vice Chair Ms. Maile Medeiros David, Member Ms. Karen Eoff, Member Ms. Susan L. K. Lee Loy, Member Ms. Eileen O'Hara, Member Ms. Valerie Poindexter, Member Mr. Herbert M. Richards, III, Member Absent & Excused: Mr. Aaron S. Y. Chung, Member STATEMENTS The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, FROM THE Statements from the Public on Agenda Items. PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS: The following individuals registered to speak in opposition to Comm. 540, and came forward when called by the Chair: Dwight Vicente. Shelly S. Mahi-Hanai. CHR KANUHA: Okay, Mr. Clerk, if you could read in Communication 540. COMMUNI- The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, CATIONS: Communications. Comm. 540: REQUESTS A LEGISLATIVE UPDATE BY STATE OF HAWAII SENATORS AND HOUSE REPRESENTATIVES From Council Chairwoman Valerie T. Poindexter, dated October 13, 2017. GREDC-12 November 1, 2017 Motion to Close File: Ms. Poindexter moved to close file on Comm. 540. Seconded by Ms. David. CHR KANUHA: Ms. Poindexter. MS. POINDEXTER: I want to thank all of the Representatives and the Senator who was able to make it today, we had seven confirmed. Unfortunately, Cindy Evans sends her regrets that she had to catch a flight to Oahu this morning and Senator Inouye had a death in the family that she's dealing with, so we want to send our deepest sympathies to her and her `ohana on that. Today, we have Representative Lowen in Kona, Representative Todd confirmed also and he hopefully will be here shortly. Representative Creagan, Representative Onishi, and Senator Ruderman are here, so if you want to come and take seats here at the table, and we can share the mics. Basically, your updates will help give us an opportunity in advanced to be able to—if we need to have legislation drawn up to support any of your efforts. Or giving the public some information that they may want to gear up for, whether it's supporting some environmental issues, or health, whatever it is. But we want to just get an open dialogue here so we know how to better maybe support any of the efforts that will have direct impacts, not on just our island, but for the State of Hawaii as well. I don't know who wants to go first. Chair, I'll leave it up to you, how you want to go ahead and Chair this update. CHR KANUHA: Okay. No, we can start with the person in the middle first, Senator Ruderman, and then we can switch off, however you guys want to do it. And just we're— MS. POINDEXTER: And don't forget Representative Lowen in Kona. CHR KANUHA: Absolutely. We love this videoconferencing system so that we can stay on all sides of the island. Senator Ruderman, go right ahead kind of just getting an update and talk story with you guys. MR RUDERMAN: And we envy your videoconferencing system. Well, I guess what I should start with is the things I'll be pushing hard on next year. And of course happy to answer any questions if I've forgotten any subjects. One thing I'll be pushing on is the state-wide directed citizen's initiative. As you know, we have referendum on the County level, but not at the state-wide level, and it's my hope that maybe by having that, we can have participative democracy to address some issues that the Legislature has failed to address and continues to fail to address. So that's one of my big good government initiatives. Page 2 GREDC-12 November 1, 2017 I also will be focusing on trying to pass a $15 an hour minimum wage for our State. I'm very interested in any support that I can get on that. I feel it's important and I feel like I have a role to play in that discussion for two reasons. One is I have a lot of employees and you would think I would oppose it, and I can address all the concerns that business people might have. I think it's really good for business, not bad for business. Moreover, it's good for our society and I think it's a way to lift hundreds of thousands of people out of poverty and virtually solve our homeless problem. And when I look in our tool box, what do we have to address poverty and homelessness? There's nothing that makes the difference that it makes. So that's something we can do like that and make a dramatic difference in our society. I know it comes with some controversy but I think the benefits greatly outweigh the negatives. I'm constantly trying to push on decriminalizing or making legal cannabis in our State and I will once again propose a bill to allow the counties to legalize or decriminalize cannabis. The State does not seem to want to do so. We will also revisit the issue of rat lungworm, especially the UHH (University of Hawaii at Hilo) Rat Lungworm Lab, funding for it. You folks are all aware of that. If there's any information I can provide about what happened to the funding last year, I'm happy to do so. But we had a bill that went all the way to the House and the Senate for 600,000, it never got a single no vote in any committee or on the floor and was killed in Conference Committee through some very dirty business which harms our community, especially here on the Big Island. So we will of course resubmit that and we would love support for that and I know the Council, I believe is stepping up and helping the lab in its own ways. Besides the rail tax, the big issue from last year that remains unresolved I think, is medical aid in dying, also called Physician -assisted suicide or death with dignity. That's the idea that with a lot of safeguards in place, a person of sound mind facing a terminal diagnosis, can have their doctor prescribe life ending drugs without the doctor getting in trouble, without losing all their insurance benefits. Like five other states have done, and Oregon is famous for having it. In Oregon, where they've had this available for more than five years, about 20 people a year take advantage of it, just to put it in perspective. That was a really big, overarching issue that died without a vote or without and explanation last year, so I think we'll revisit it. Other things we will revisit I think are some version of the tiny houses bill or something to help ag housing or housing in general. As I think you all know, we had a bill for small houses on ag projects last year that you folks supported and it went all the way through, but was vetoed by the governor. And let me just say, because I've heard it questioned, this Council provided a resolution in support of that bill and although the governor ended up vetoing it, that resolution was instrumental in changing that bill's fate in the committee. I was there in the Ag Page 3 GREDC-12 November 1, 2017 Committee when they were—two Chairs were about to kill it and Representative Evans brought me in, it was almost like the cavalry brought me in a copy of this resolution you guys had passed two days before, which I hadn't seen yet. I handed it to the Chairs and they changed their mind on the spur of the moment to let Hawaii County go ahead with this. So on the one hand, I want to say your resolutions matter and your voices matter at the Legislature, I saw it first-hand. Secondly, I hope we'll revisit it. I think the governor vetoed it because it did not have the support of our County administration, and if we're going to get that passed on the state-wide level, we need to include the County administration and get their support going forward. And lastly, I'll be working to move forward the proposal for an agricultural park in lower Puna. I got money for it this past year, which was already released so I'll be working with the Department of Ag to try to get that going. But we will hope for County cooperation and support in that regard. I'm probably leaving out some stuff but I'll yield the mic at this point, and I'm happy to answer any questions. And thank you so much for having this discussion by the way. CHR KANUHA: Thank you, Senator Ruderman. Just wondering if we wanted to give everybody a chance to speak and then we can ask questions afterwards. That will probably be easier. Okay, mahalo for being patient with us. I'm going to go over to Kona. Aloha, Representative Lowen, good morning and mahalo for being here. MS. LOWEN: Sure, can you hear me? CHR KANUHA: Yup, we can hear you loud and clear. MS. LOWEN: Okay, great, this is my first time using your guys' awesome videoconferencing system. Let's see, so it's a bit early, I'll list a few things, this isnt' everything and things could change but if something is not on this list, it doesn't mean I don't support it. So, starting with the, I guess, CIP (Capital Improvement Projects) and funding specifically for District 6 I'll be seeking, I think one of the priorities this year will include like funding for furnishings and equipment for the courthouse, which should be completed I think in end of 2018/2019. For the harbor, for the sewer lines connecting Honokohau Harbor to Kealakehe Wastewater Treatment Plant, that'll connect it up to the highway and then last year we got funds for planning and design for a west Hawaii Veterans Center. This would be seeking funds for construction of that facility so they can move forward. We'll keep pushing for a lifeguard at Kua Bay, we really need that. It's Page 4 GREDC-12 November 1, 2017 frustrating that we've been pushing for this for five years or more now and still not funded, but we're going to keep trying. On the Finance Committee, I'll still be doing all the grants in aid for another year so I do see part of my job is to look at the big picture of the whole State but part of that job also is to make sure I'm taking care of Big Island. There are not that many Big Island residents on the Finance Committee, and so I think we've got to kind of make hay while the sun shines and while someone's in that position. As far as legislation, I would support $15 an hour minimum wage and some of those bigger picture things, but I think I'm going to focus more on the specific, local issues for my priorities today. So, I'd like us to pass the Hawaii Invasive Species Authority bill that was the first recommendation that came out the Inter - Agency Biosecurity Plan. I thought it would move last year and it didn't but that would be a step forward in implementing that plan and getting a better and more proactive handle on invasive species issues. Then also on that list would be getting some funding for Little Fire Ants, maybe both for education and outreach so people know what to do and how to test and then also continuing the voucher system if that's been successful. Coffee berry borer, we passed a bill last year that extends out the sunset date a couple years because it took a long time to get that program operational, so we just need to ensure it has adequate funding until that sunset date. And then I think we'll also be looking, I'm not sure exactly what the steps will be, but we definitely need to tackle affordable housing and the homeless, that's a huge issue and we've got to work on it. On the Energy Committee, I think one of the big things we need to do is look at incentives for energy storage so people can move to like a solar plus battery backup and utility scale storage, for anyone who wants to invest in that kind of project so that we can capture the renewable energy we're creating during the day, and be able to use it in the evening, and continue to move off of fossil fuel. And then we'll probably also be discussing again, both like how we can move towards cleaner transportation, more renewable fuel transportation, and then also looking at the gas tax. And I think on both of those questions, the important thing is going to be to make sure that we consider the different situations on different islands, so what works for Oahu, might feel unfair to Big Island where we drive a lot more miles. So, we just got to look at that and make sure that works. Let's see. I'm hoping we can move forward with doing an all mail -in voting program. A few states have done this and it successfully increased voter turnout. Page 5 GREDC-12 November 1, 2017 So, that would be where every registered voter is automatically mailed a ballot and then there wouldn't be the Election Day polls like there are now. And then finally, I hope that we can look at some options for TAT (Transient Accommodations Tax) and putting that to rest once and for all and getting more funds back to the County. One idea I've been considering is if part of that funding—if we returned funding to the counties, and then tied part of that funding to specific things that might make it something that we can get support from people who wouldn't have supported it in the past, so if we tied part of it, for example, to hiring people to enforce on illegal vacation rentals and short-term rentals, or if we tied part of it to funding for mass transit and the bus system. Those are just some ideas, there's not a bill drafted yet because it's still relatively early. But yeah, those are some of the things I'm working on and happy to answer questions when everybody has their turn. So, thank you. CHR KANUHA: Thank you. Mahalo for your update. Next up, we can have Representative Onishi. MR. ONISHL Thank you very much for the invitation to come and meet with you. I first wanted to go over current district projects. So my district is from Haihai Street out to Honoapu in Ka`u. Along the Volcano Highway, I have the upper Puna subdivisions, Volcano subdivisions within the district. So, projects that we have worked on and are in the hopper so to speak, four -mile bridge, which is at the bottom of Haihai Street. We got funding, $13 million for that project, to replace the bridge. We're waiting on, I guess, County Public Works and Historic Preservation for determination on the historic bridge issue. But also Public Works, in terms of looking at the scope of the project and I don't know if some of you know, but because of the relocation of the Fire Station, that intersection now becomes a potential problem with the fire trucks trying to make the turn onto the bridge. So, that's a high-priority project. For Pana`ewa stretch, we got funding for acceleration and deceleration lanes, much like those that were at the UH (University of Hawaii) Ag Park. We got $2 million for that project. That's for Mamaki and Lama Streets. Kulani Correctional Facility, we got funding for a full-time farm manager and also for equipment and supplies cost. In that bill, I'm working closely with Representative Takayama, who's the Chair of Public Safety and we also included a full-time farm manager for Waiawa prison. Waiawa prison has a very extensive ag program in which they're training the inmates at Waiawa the skills of farming and we just began that project up at Kulani, or restarted that program, I guess, with the cooperation of Hawaii Community College. We had a project to provide a full-time farm manager for Hawaii Community College at the UH Ag Park and also equipment and supplies so that they would be able to upgrade the park and upgrade equipment there. Unfortunately, that funding bill died and so we'll be pushing that again. Page 6 GREDC-12 November 1, 2017 In the KKP (Ka`u-Kea`au-Pahoa) Complex schools, I have all of the schools except for the Pahoa schools and Keonepoko within the district, and we've provided funding over the last four years for various projects at the schools. Some are health and safety, some are just basic improvements. And also, we got funding to address the parking issue at Waiakea Uka Park. As some of you may know, most of the users of the park, park along `Aina`ola and that creates a very hazardous condition, especially for young children. There is some vacant property around the gym and the baseball fields and so we secured $600,000 to try to secure land and begin a development plan. That's also stalled because of—we're still trying to negotiate with the landowner. Moving forward for 2018, projects that we are currently working on in the district, there are two senior housing facilities within my district, one in Kea`au town and one in Pahala. Both sadly are in tremendous need of repair and upgrades, so I've been working with Hawaii Housing to move those projects forward. Yesterday in fact, I got assurance that hopefully Pahala will be done next year. No guarantees though because I've been working on it for the last five years. The KKP Schools, every year, I participate with the DOE's (Department of Education) walk-through of all of the schools within my district, and that process is basically to look at prioritization of repair and maintenance projects, and that would then be folded into the DOE's request for repair and maintenance funds to the Legislature. So I participated in all of the schools in the district in that walk- through, so we have a list of projects that we'll be working with the DOE. If it doesn't come up high on their priority list, then we may be introducing either CIP Projects or bills for funding. And then another major project that I'm trying to work on is the establishment of a community farm or a residential community farm on land that belongs to the Public Safety Department (PSD). Some of you may know it's called Field 33, it's almost 500 acres I believe and it's currently not used. It used to be used for their ag program where they did their cattle and pig farming and training. So, we're beginning discussions with PSD and with various stakeholders about looking at establishing a community farming project where inmates who have graduated from the Waiawa or Kulani Ag Program, will be able to do their voluntary probation in this particular project where they would be able to live in a farming community, share equipment, but also be provided various amounts of land for them to establish their own farming skills. And hopefully, that project then would graduate them to the ag loan program, from the Department of Agriculture. So, I'll stop there and again, I'll be here to answer any questions you have. Thank you. Page 7 GREDC-12 November 1, 2017 CHR KANUHA: Mahalo Representative Onishi. Good morning Representative Creagan. MR. CREAGAN: Good morning everybody, I met most of you before. Thank you for having us here, I think it's very useful and I'll start off by just saying pretty much what they said. Fortunately for you, they covered a lot of stuff so I don't have to re-cover. I think one of the advantages of our legislative group is we work as a team and we tend to support each other's projects. We hope to, you know—and we work with you as a team and what Senator Ruderman said about you supporting us with resolutions, it is very important. And I hope you can continue to do that because it does help to give—it's not just us, it's the voice of the people, the Big Island. We meet every Thursday morning as a group to get together and talk about things like that, and I don't know how many of you can come over to do that, but two at a time or something. You know, be happy to have you there on Thursday mornings to do that. I'm sorry that we're not going to particularly support the Sunshine expansion to the Legislature because I don't think it would work over there. Most of the things happen over there after dark, so anyway. Okay, so I guess this is being recorded and sent out so I just wanted to say I've been in the Legislature four sessions, this is my fifth session coming up, and the first few sessions I was on Health and Human Services and Housing, and then in the afternoon Judiciary, and Consumer Protection and Commerce. So I had experience in those committees. I'm a Physician and health was a big part of my efforts over there. Last year was a big shift because I was appointed as Chair of Agriculture. I mean I had lived on a farm in Ka`u for 25 years and have taken courses at UH Hilo in agriculture, so I have as much background or more than almost anyone else in the Legislature, except maybe Representative Onishi, who has his little farm. But we're both very interested in agriculture, and the Big Island is so dominated by agriculture, that's important. So, I'm Chair of Agriculture and expect to be Chair this coming session, but I'm also on Public Safety and Ocean Affairs and Hawaiian AffairsOcean, Marine Resources, and Hawaiian Affairs, and then in the afternoon, I'm on Higher Education. I'm trying to get—promote agriculture as a stem subject in our schools and integrate with the farm to school stuff So, many of the things that were said, I support very heartily. I mean I think it's time to do something on promoting the growth of cannabis either in the form of marijuana or hemp. Minimum wage, I think is controversial but I think again, the benefits outweigh the risks. And supporting agriculture in general here, invasive Page 8 GREDC-12 November 1, 2017 species, all these things are critical, so I'm going to just say some of the things that they said to say, which leaves not too much left actually. Okay, I will revisit the TAT and the rail situation. Okay,you're surely familiar with the special session, which increased the TAT tax for both Oahu and the neighbor islands, gave that increase to the rail project and then capped the TAT to the County, boasting about the TAT increasing eight percent per year. I thought that was pretty egregious. Mayor Caldwell claimed if we didn't give him the money he wanted he would have to raise the property tax on Oahu. Well, Mayor Kim had to raise the—you guys had to raise the property tax here because of that, I mean in part because of that because the TAT was capped and it wasn't expanded. And we lost Cindy Evans as majority leader because of her no vote on that. And you know, I voted no as well because I thought the way—apart from the details, the way it was handled, I thought was very—did not acknowledge the neighbor islands. So, it doesn't benefit the County to have the TAT increase eight percent, which they were boasting about this is a great source of funding, it's going to increase eight percent, and then they cap it. They put a hard cap on it. So, in looking at that issue and reviewing the history of the TAT, it's clear that it has to be shared more widely and fully with the counties. And I actually talked to Chair Luke and I think she acknowledged that they made some errors in the way they handled that and that they will revisit that, you know, how thoroughly, I don't know. But I think they're willing to get rid of that hard cap and increase the amount and you know, if it's increasing eight percent a year, it's a very valuable source of funds, right? And it shouldn't be capped because then you won't get that increase. So, it's something I think we all support in various ways and I sort of apologize, we hadn't support it fully in the past because the Finance people have so much power over there, it's hard to buck them on things like this. But you know, we will be bucking them. Okay, so shifting to sort of—agriculture and health are two of my priorities because I'm a Physician and I'm a farmer. I'm on the Ag Committee but I can weigh in on things like the death and dignity, aid in dying bill, and I think that will move out of the Health Committee this year. We have a new Chair and then hopefully, will come to a full vote on the House floor. I mean it's not going to affect a huge number of people, but the way it's going to have a major effect on the lives and deaths of those few. And I think it's something that's definitely should be fast this year. Okay, so I'm going to just jump around a little bit here. One of the bills I'd like to introduce is banning Chlorpyrifos. Chlorpyrifos is a very dangerous pesticide, insecticide that is related to sarin gas. I mean they act just the same way, their research came from same research. So, you know, the acute toxicity of the two Page 9 GREDC-12 November 1, 2017 are the same, they'll kill you the same way. Now, it's a little safer than sarin gas in terms of acute toxicity, but you know, it works the same way. The other thing that Chlorpyrifos does is it causes injuries in the fetus, severe injuries, and that's called a teratogenic affect. So that was recognized here in the United States, in New York, when Chlorpyrifos is used extensively in buildings and apartments for roaches and other insects. So they banned, the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) actually banned it for indoor use in 2001. Europe was slower but they've now banned it entirely except for one tiny use. So, our EPA was supposed to issue a similar ban this, year based on huge body research, but our President appointed Scott Pruitt to the EPA and he stopped that ban. Our island actually uses more Chlorpyrifos than Kauai does, even with all the seed corn companies. There are safer things, there are replacement things for this, there are safer things, and EPA was supposed to ban Chlorpyrifos, but because of the appointment of Scott Pruitt, it was stalled. And of course Dow Chemical, the maker of Chlorpyrifos, donated $1 million for Trump's inauguration fund and the head of Dow is going to head up an industry advisory group, you know, all those things that are not very appealing about our current administration. So I plan to reintroduce that bill this year because the EPA didn't do it and last year, they said, "Well, we're not going to pass it because EPA is going to do it." So, I'll reintroduce that. Now, I just the invasive species Council should become the way, invasive species authority that passed unanimously in all the committees, both Houses. The Senate bill came over the House, the House went over the Senate, and as things often happen, it died in Conference because it didn't receive clearance for Finance. So I think we'll—it received the ends for support, it's a good thing to do, we needed to move forward with that so I think this year, the way hopefully, will be cleared to get that done. And I think that's important because invasive species are very important for our State, but this island particularly. Little Fire Ant is a really dangerous thing. Rat lung disease, it's terrible. Coqui frogs are a major nuisance, so there are a lot of things that need to be addressed in terms of invasive species. Now, something that came up, I think O'Hara mentioned this, and emailed this to me is restoring two positions in the Health Department. She actually mentioned one that's the—our island, the District Health Officer should be a Physician. That was the law, or the rules, I'm not sure which one. But that was recognized long ago that a Physician should be the District Health Officer tobecause they're on the ground, they're here, they recognize all the problems that this island has and they can defend this island against the Health Department which is so O`ahu- centric. And it worked very well for Maui, with Lorrin Pang and Kauai has a District Health Officer, so I'm going topartly I'll only suggest what I was going Page 10 GREDC-12 November 1, 2017 to do. But anyway, let's reintroduce a bill to mandate that there be a Physician hired for that. And that's something that you as a Council, if you wish to do so, I think your support would be very welcomed and helpful, and if Eileen can help that, I'll be glad to talk to her about that offline here. The other position that was very important, and I think Council Member Richards would recognize this, is we used to have a State Public Health Veterinarian, David Sasaki, who was like a world expert on leptospirosis, pustulosis. I mean you know, leptospirosis kills people here unnecessarily because we don't have the expertise. We don't have a good test for leptospirosis. We should have had one long ago because it's, you know, it's a major problem in our State. I mean it's also right now, affecting Puerto Rico because of their problems with water sources, so maybe since they have a big CDC (Centers for Disease Control) Center down there, it'll help raise the profile of that disease. But Rat lung disease is also what's called zoonosis a disease that goes from animals to people and those are very devastating diseases often. Brucellosis certainly can be, leptospirosis can kill you, and rat lung disease can kill you or severely impair you. And so having a State Public Health Veterinarian, as most states have, you know, not just in their Ag Department but in their Health Department, is very important, and I hope Council Member Richards will support that. And again, if you had a resolution supporting that, it would be helpful, that we'd mandate that. David Sasaki was great. I don't know if anyone knew him but he was a world expert on leptospirosis and they didn't—they let that position lapse and that was very sad. I actually worked for the Health Department as an Epidemiological Specialist for a year and I worked with David Sasaki back in 2004 and it was very important that he was there and he educated both Department of Health and people on the neighbor islands. Okay, so that's something you guys can help me with and the whole island. Okay, we're working on ag theft bills. We had support to have a couple people work with the Prosecutor's office or one at least and that didn't go through. But the Ag Department funded a position, Shane Muramaru has recently started in that. And ag theft is you know, critical. Most of our farmers are small farmers. A little loss is a big loss, right? Even someone who had a few fruit trees in their front yard, you know, if somebody comes in and steals all their breadfruit or their lychees or their mangoes, that's devastating to that family, right? I mean they depend on it for themselves or their family and neighbors, and you know, they come home and their tree is stripped bare. After waiting for months, it's really people are very upset. We just had a meeting on this last week at Kainaliu about that. So I think that's an important issue. And I'll, you know, expand that. Page 11 GREDC-12 November 1, 2017 Okay, the rat lung thing, it was just insulting to Senator Ruderman but his district and our island, the way they denied the funding to that after—it was just totally clear that it was a growing problem but it was minimized by the Health Department. I mean at the rat lung work force, they say, "Well, the tourism people said we don't want to put posters up," and so they minimized a number of cases. They minimized the severity of the cases and then they denied the money to the one group that's doing something about it at UH Hilo, Sue Jarvi's lab. So we'll push that again. I think it ended up this last time for very bad reasons and people aren't denying the need for it, they justit got involved in some backroom politics so maybe the Sunshine bill would help, I don't know. I mean we're not perfect that's for sure. Anyway, I think that'sI mean I'm certainly willing to answer questions. Again, I'm on the Public Safety and I think the public safety stuff that Mr. Richards is doing with agriculture is really important. We want to normalize people's return to society and agriculture is an area they can return and be successful, but they need to have both the training while they're in prison and then some follow up afterwards. So I think what he's proposing is great and I'm on the Public Safety Committee and Ag, so I'll support those things. So, I'm available for questions and it's good to see you guys. CHR KANUHA: And good to see all you guys too. Really mahalo you guys for being here. I know it was stated earlier that Representative Todd was going to try to make it but he ended up getting really sick so he won't be able to make it today. we wish him well and in good fortune. But I will turn it over for questions to the Council Members. Chair Poindexter. MS. POINDEXTER: Yeah, I just want to say thank you for all that information and it's being streamed live so people can watch it now and later too because you can get onto the computer. So it'll be accessible to the public so that was important to have. But at this time, I just want to yield to my fellow Council Members. Thank you. CHR KANUHA: Thank you. I don't know who was on first over there. Mr. Richards. We know you have a lot of resolutions that you're going to be introducing. MR. RICHARDS: Eileen can go first, that's okay with me. CHR KANUHA: Go right ahead. MS. O'HARA: Thank you and thank you everyone for coming before us, and Representative Lowen over there in Kona and giving us this update. It's really helpful. I have questions for each of you probably. Senator Ruderman, you talked about the tiny house bill and when you were giving your town hall in Page 12 GREDC-12 November 1, 2017 Pahoa, I did have a conversation with your Legislative Assistant, Michael, and my understanding is we do already have, in our County Code, the ability to do efficiency units of 240 square feet. There may be other restrictions on those that I haven't really studied the issue, but we can apply plumbing, we can apply electricity. Is it the number of units that are limited or why is it that that's in our existing County Code is not sufficient for agriculturally -zoned properties? And if there's something that we need to change Code wise, I would love to work with you to make that a better option. But I'm not 100 percent sure that the State needs to act on this versus the County. So I would love to continue working with your office on that and we can answer those questions later. With Representative Onishi, you mentioned that you are developing a list of priorities for the DOE, for the schools in your district. Is that correct or is it the County -wide priority list? MR. ONISHL Well actually, the DOE comes to the entire island, so it's County- wide. They typically invite the legislators for the schools within their district. So for example, I went to all the schools that are within, physically within my district. I wanted to attend the Waiakea schools, the elementary, high school, middle school, and Waiakeawaena, but it was on a day that I was on Oahu, so I wasn't able to attend that. So as part of this process, the DOE has an engineering division and they go to all the schools and the principals from the schools, they do a wish list and then they send it in to the district office, or the complex office, and then the complex then forwards all of the requests to the DOE Engineering Department. So they come out, they take a look, they look at, okay, this was on your list, we got funding last year, it reached, you know, their funding ability, so it's scheduled to be funded, or it's in the process of being designed, et cetera. So we go through that whole list and then we do a walk around the school to look at new projects or projects that didn't make the list or didn't get funded, and whether or not it has gotten worse or if their own custodial staff or the DAGS (Department of Accounting and General Services) staff on the island has been able to mitigate the problem sufficiently where other issues come up to priority. MS. O'HARA: Okay, I believe I understand the process. I guess my question is, for schools located in my district, in particular Pahoa High School campus, which is a very aged campus and in need of many things, as opposed to Kea`au, which is a relatively new campus and quite a lovely campus actually, what were the identified needs that are priority, at least on your mind for that campus? MR. ONISHL For Pahoa? MS.O'HARA: Yes. Page 13 GREDC-12 November 1, 2017 MR. ONISHL Pahoa is not in my district, it's in Representative San Buenaventura's and Senator Ruderman's district. So, you know, you can take that up with them or you can take it up with the complex office because they'll have the list of the projects that they prioritize for schools within that district. MS. O'HARA: So in your district, you have Kea`au High School as part of your district? MR. ONISHL I have all the Kea`au Schools, Mountain View, and Ka`u High School and Elementary School. But I also go to visit Na`alehu because Na`alehu is a feeder school to Kea`au High School. MS. O'HARA: Right, okay. So were there any projects that you felt needed to be increased in terms of the priority, relative to what DOE was looking at? MR. ONISHL Yeah, but—okay, so DOE, say we give them $80 million for repair and maintenance, then they go state-wide. They look first at health and safety projects for all schools, and then they look at other types of projects that would mitigate larger problems. For example, reroofing of schools, if the condition of the roof is such that painting it will not help to improve the condition, then they'd generally go in for reroofing. So that's a high priority because they don't want to have leaks, they don't want to have those kinds of problems. So an example would be for Mountain View, their Preschool Program is in portables that the roof is now leaking. So for Mountain View, that for them was their number one priority project, so hopefully, it will get funded through the repair and maintenance. The other thing that we discussed was whether or not the DOE should be looking at alternative methods to stop roof leaking and roof protection. For example, like that Gaco treatment, which is a guaranteed, you know, it has a guaranteed life and it'll help protect roofs as well as stop leaking because it's more of a coating that's put over the entire existing roof. So, if the roof is in decent condition, that might be the alternative. It's a much cheaper alternative than reroofing. MS. O'HARA: Thank you for that. Basically, you were pretty much in agreement with the DOE on their priorities. Is that what I'm understanding? MR. ONISHL Well I'm more in agreement with the school. Whether or not it reaches the DOE priority list is an issue I don't think we have much control over. MS. O'HARA: Okay, I understand. Page 14 GREDC-12 November 1, 2017 MR. ONISHL But what I am committed to do is if a project that the school feels is really important and it doesn't get funded, then I have the ability to introduce a bill for funding, or I can include it in my CIP request. MS. O'HARA: Okay. MR. ONISHL So that would be the alternative way and it's open to all of us. MS. O'HARA: Alright. Well thank you for that and just a short question on where is the Field 33, the 500 acres? Where is that? MR. ONISHL Okay, it's on Stainback Highway. It's I believe around 10 miles below the prison. MS. O'HARA: Okay. MR. ONISHL So, it's about halfway between Hilo. MS. O'HARA: So elevation would be 4,000 feet maybe? MR. ONISHL Oh no, way below that. MS. O'HARA: Not even? Way below that? Okay, good. MR. ONISHL Maybe closer to 1,000-1,500. MS. O'HARA: Okay, perfect. Thank you, Representative. Representative Creagan, yes, we have talked a bit about the need for the DOH to appoint somebody with a medical background. And also, I would point out, while we're championing that position, or trying to champion getting an appropriate person into that position, we are also underserved in our environmental health here and I understand from a meeting that was attended by Representative Todd and Senator Kahele, that the environmental health specialist position has basically been eliminated for East Hawaii and all we have is West Hawaii. And if that is indeed the case, if there's some way that the State could help reinstate the position, get somebody hired because we obviously have many issues that need a more immediate response than someone travelling all the way from Kona. So, I just want to throw that out and yes, I will happily work with you on the other thing in terms of putting together a resolution to support any efforts that you bring forth. Thank you. MR. CREAGAN: Thank you for that. I just want to acknowledge that Representative Onishi came to Na`alehu School when I was there and he's very helpful. He understands the system better than I do. And you guys can weigh in on those things too. You know, if one of your schools says to you we need this, Page 15 GREDC-12 November 1, 2017 how can you help us? You can work with us to try and get that. But I mean it's complicated because as he pointed out, I discovered something I have gotten funds for two years ago, got to DOE, it's sitting there not being used, and you know—working on the building permit, County building permit. So, I think there should be some kind of interdisciplinary working group on some level to help the educational department because the Department of Education again, is Oahu -centric. I mean so much of what happens in our State is caused by that bureaucratic centrality on Oahu and you know, they hardly know what's happening here sometimes. So, I mean, you think they would, but they don't, right? And you think they'd care, but they don't really emotionally care. So, we have to stand up for our island. And I think bringing back more stuff to our island, even like people talk about having the County Health Department the way it used to be instead of the State Health Department. Or even having the hospitals be County hospitals the way it used to be instead of having to rely on the dribs and drabs from the State. So I think we have to think about this County as not independent of course, but have more independence from the State than it has right now. Thank you. CHR KANUHA: Thank you. And just as a reminder, Council Members, it is 10:00. I know we're going after 10:00 obviously with a lot more questions, but mahalo for being patient with us as we get these questions going. Mr. Richards. MR. RICHARDS: Thank you, Chair, and I'll try and group this all together so I'll just throw a bunch at you at once. First of all, concerning the medical officer for—as mentioned previously, Councilwoman and I were discussing and having a MD (Doctor of Medicine) to fill that position. I also said a veterinarian, and case point there as was pointed out, zoonotic disease, very important and I would fully support along those. And I understand I'll be drafting a resolution to help support that for you. Concerning assisted suicide, I couldn't agree with you more. I think we need to do more work on that and I'd be very happy to support that going forward. Invasive species was mentioned. One of the things that the Big Island faces is we try—and it ties into agriculture, I Chair Ag, Water and Energy, getting our products off of this island to other islands. This has been discussed for some time now, facilities at the ports so we can have our ag commodities housed appropriately, inspected appropriately, so we can move them. Treating the Big Island as a quarantine area so we don't move our ag products off the island is not the right answer. We need to be able to move that, and I know this was proposed years ago, back when Representative Tsuji was working on that and I think that kind of fell through the cracks. Is it forthcoming? Okay, good to hear that. Page 16 GREDC-12 November 1, 2017 Concerning the schools, Representative Onishi, I was touring with the Senate Ways and Means this last week, and looking at Kohala High School, their gymnasium was built back in 1932 and has been closed for the last six months. There are efforts to have it band -aided, but we really need to look in the future for CIP and actually get something done there. And so that's a big concern coming forward for the Kohala community. Also, the Waimea Middle School, toured that with them, brand new S.T.E.A.M (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) building which used to be a S.T.E.M (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) building, but now we refer it as steam because we've added arts. Great building but there's no funding for anything to go in it. So that's a big concern. I met with people from the school yesterday, so if we could put that on the radar and figure out how we can be able to put equipment into that program. Ag theft, we've been discussing that for probably 20 years now and I think it's great that our—Mitch Roth has put Shane Muramaru into that position and I think the State laws of making what's a felony much lower threshold for ag theft is huge. Because years ago, we ran into a situation where someone stole the fence post out of a fence and from a distance, you could see the fence standing, but if cattle were put in it, the fence would lie down. Now it's a funny story, except that if the cattle got on the highway and someone was killed, the liability is huge and it shouldn't belong to the rancher in that situation, they did what they're doing. So, I appreciate the support of going after ag theft because it's paramount, especially for this island. One thing I did want to ask on the mini houses, I have one farmer who's actually working on developing an ag housing development right now, and we're going to use it as a poster child to see how we can go forward with that. We're still in discussion and he has some ideas. So that'll be forthcoming, but I will keep you apprised on how things are coming along with that because I think we were told we can do it in this County, so we are going to test that. Senator and Representative Lowen, you mentioned the $15 an hour minimum wage. Conceptually, I get it, I understand it. If you look at Seattle, University of Washington (UW) did a research project last summer and they found contra to what they thought was going to happen with the $15 an hour, and I put that out for you. I don't know if you've read that study, if you've seen that work, but if we look at our County and look at our cost of housing, and if you look at our minimum wage, in order to support renting, you have to be making somewhere around $22 or $23 an hour. In order to afford buying a house, it would be somewhere around $40 an hour and you can do that with two people earning $20 an hour. Page 17 GREDC-12 November 1, 2017 But, on the other side of the coin is the businesses, and I'm very concerned about that study coming out of UW in Seattle. So I pose that forward and I realize we're under a bit of a timeline here. I could actually have you guys sit here all day because I got lots to talk about. With that, I fully appreciate your guys' time, efforts, and input for Big Island because we need it and I couldn't agree more, Representative Creagan, Big Island, I mean we're like a little continent. We kind of have to work on a lot of stuff and we appreciate the State's support in a lot of it, but we have to figure some of this stuff out going forward. So anyway, with that Chair, I'm going to yield and perhaps some response or give the other Council Members a chance to ask questions. CHR KANUHA: Thank you. Ms. Ruggles. MS. RUGGLES: Thank you. Thank you for being here. It's been a really helpful discussion for us. I wanted to give Mr. Ruderman a chance to respond to Eileen's question on the efficiency -dwelling units. MR. RUDERMAN: On the what units? MS. RUGGLES: Efficiency -dwelling units that we have here. MR. RUDERMAN: The tiny houses? MS. RUGGLES: Yeah. MR. RUDERMAN: Okay good. Thank you because I was hoping to respond to that and thank you for the opportunity here. So, I met with the Mayor before the veto to try to convince him toI'm sorry, before the governor's veto, I met with the Mayor because it all hinged on the Mayor's support. And he assured me, as you folks have referred to that here in our County, we already have the rules necessary to put ag housing on legitimate farms. And they referred to a couple of projects and perhaps it's something that Council Member Richards was referring to. It referred to a couple of examples of dormitory type housing being built on some farms where it's a special permit and they promised me that they would work with any legitimate farmer to make that available, to make that happen. Therefore, we don't need the tiny housing. Now that's great, it's great news as far as it goes. I think if you polled 100 farmers in the State and ask them how many people know they can build a dormitory for their workers, the answer would be zero. So, it's a program that exists in theory only, and I think some kind of codification or clarification of this tiny house availability would be very beneficial so we can make it a reality and not a theoretical thing. Page 18 GREDC-12 November 1, 2017 So, does the State need to be involved? I don't know. Either the State needs to be involved or we need to resolve this problem some other way. If the County thinks we can do it with what we got, then let's go ahead and do it because we're not doing it and housing is a problem. And you talk about ag theft, there's nothing that's going to make more (inaudible) to have ag theft than having somebody who live on the farm. So let's make this available. Right now, no one's doing it, everyone says it's not needed because we can do it now, but we're not doing it now. So, if you don't need any State input, then advertise this law or make it a reality somehow. That's all, so thank you for the opportunity because I think we need to do all of the above when it comes to housing, ag housing, low-cost housing, normal housing, control the increases in cost. I think we need to do all those things and for me, tiny houses was one component that would have been a welcomed, small piece of the pie to relieve it. Thank you. MS. RUGGLES: Thank you. I was also hoping you would describe the ag park a little bit more in detail. MR. RUDERMAN: Sure. Right now, we're looking at a location that's between Maku`u and Hawaiian Shores, or Kahakai and Hawaiian Beaches, Hawaiian Shores. It's an area along the ocean. I'll be brief, I know we're in a hurry. It's a place where the State owns upwards of 2,000 acres of land, it's doing nothing right now. The DLNR (Department of Land and Natural Resources) is willing to give that land to the Department of Agriculture to develop an ag park. The reason we're looking at that place is it has an abundance of water flowing at a very shallow depth underneath it. It also has access to cold ocean water without disturbing any coral for cold storage or cold water crops like we do in Kona. We have an available work force that drives on the deadliest highway. If they get a job in Hilo, we'd like to get them off of that and we have all this free land, so we have all the components for agriculture except soil. But then again, we have places on Oahu with deep soil and they can't get water or they have million dollar mansions on them. So we do have thousands of acres of land and there's no (inaudible) we can do. Aquaponics we can do, aquaculture, we can do greenhouse farming which is mostly what's done in Puna anyway, or we can build or import soil. So that's where the next step would be for the Department of Agriculture to set up hire a consultant who will do a series of public meetings to gather input on what it should look like and whether it should go there at all. Thank you. MS. RUGGLES: Thank you. My next question is for Representative Lowen. For the Hawaii Invasive Authority, could you describe that more in detail as far as what their role would be? Page 19 GREDC-12 November 1, 2017 MS. LOWEN: It's just a different structure for the invasive species because they're kind of like aI think their place was in like under DLNR. It's like sort of quasi -government, quasi -independent and also establishing the Invasive Species Authority would make it much clearer when we went to do the budgeting process and provided money from the Legislature. We could provide directly to that and it would be much clearer like where that funding was going and what amount they were receiving. MS. RUGGLES: Okay, thank you. Also, you mentioned the affordable housing and homelessness and that you're working on that. Do you have any more details as far as what you're working on in specific? MS. LOWEN: I mean it's such a difficult issue. I think there has been a lot of suggestions for smaller things like ways we can incentivize affordable housing, some of the ways we can streamline the process a little bit, continue to fund homelessness or maybe being more specific on how we want that funding to be spent. Because in the past, we had given $12 million to DHS and sort of left it open-ended for them to be able to respond as they best saw fit. And that has been I think, somewhat disappointing in how that ended up getting used. But again, it's such a difficult issue because it's like we need to work on health care, on mental health care on neighbor islands, and affordable housing, affordable cost of living. So it's just one of those things that it's going to take a lot of pieces for us to get a handle on it. And it's I think we're discussing those things. I mean I'd love to see some really broad-based tax reform where we would just stop—I mean we tax people who make very little money that probably we shouldn't be taxing at all at this point. That money would just be better off left in people's pocket. And then I thinkI know the County's been working on the short-term rental legislation. I think that's a huge part of that discussion as well. So I really look forward to seeing that and I'll probably be weighing in too. MS. RUGGLES: Does anything you're working on have to do with the recent funding that went to the Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA) to work on homelessness? MS. LOWEN: I don't know exactly what they're doing with that. Rep Onishi might have a better idea, but I'm not sure, I'd have to check on what their plans are. MS. RUGGLES: Okay, thank you. And the last thing is the energy storage facility. I'm sorry, I didn't catch that. What specific would this piece of legislation be doing for that? MS. LOWEN: Similar to how we have the tax credit now, that it's for renewable energy and that could be used for individuals to put solar panels on their roof, but Page 20 GREDC-12 November 1, 2017 then it can also be for utility -scale development where like an independent contractor would propose building a renewable energy project and then they would have a contract with the utility to sell power to them at a rate that would then have to be approved by the PUC (Public Utilities Commission). So same idea that we would just need to create incentives for storage, both for individuals who want to have a battery backup system on their home and potentially a utility scale because I think we'll need both going forward. And that just—the storage enables—because right now, we produce a lot of renewable energy, you know, when the wind is blowing, when the sun is shining during the day in particular, but we don't have the capacity to store it and to play it at night. So at night, we switch over to fossil fuel again. And if we want to continue to move the needle on getting to 100 percent renewable, then it's going to involve storage and I think that we need to push the utility moving forward, both with storage and a grid that can handle that two way interaction of energy as well. MS. RUGGLES: Thank you. MS. LOWEN: And then providing products for consumers as well. So if you have a system on your house that you have solar panels and a battery and you're storing extra energy and there's time in the evening when the utility would like to pull some of that extra energy from your home, so similar to how we had the net metering program, I think that the utilities need to come up with at product for customers. I think ideally, it would be something that dealt with time of use so that your rate would be lowest if you sort of focused your efforts on using more energy when energy is cheap, and the rates would be a little bit higher to discourage using a lot of it when energy is high. But then at the same time, you will get reimbursed more if you're providing energy back to the grid at those times. So that's something other States have done, so moving towards the time of use model and being able to offer that to customers to sign up for. MS. RUGGLES: Awesome. That's great. My next question is for Mr. Onishi regarding the residential community farm. Field 33, could you tell us where that will be? I don't know where Field 33 is. MR. ONISHL Okay, so if you go up the access road to the zoo and you follow that up MS. RUGGLES: Stainback. MR. ONISHL Yeah, Stainback Highway. If you go up, passed Peck Road I believe is Kulani prison, it's another about six miles I think, up to Kulani, pass that intersection. But if you come down, maybe about three miles or so there's a field there that they used to do cattle ranching and they have a piggery. So that Page 21 GREDC-12 November 1, 2017 would be the location. In fact, the previous administration wanted to actually move Kulani Correctional Facility there. I opposed it more because I didn't think that the community in that area it would have moved Kulani prison about a mile or a mile and a half away from Waiakea Uka so I opposed it. We were able to continue the DLNR's agreement to allow PSD to use the Kulani Correctional Facility. And so that's where it would be located. MS. RUGGLES: Thank you. How many acres is it? MR. ONISHL I think it's almost 500. MS. RUGGLES: Wow. MR. ONISHL It's a large parcel. MS. RUGGLES: I'm just curious. For the Kulani Farm Manager, I think is an excellent idea, do you know who that will be? MR. ONISHL I'm not involved in the selection. I think they're going through that selection now. MS. RUGGLES: Okay, great. MR. ONISHL And I just wanted to highlight, so the homeless funding right now, the AG (Attorney General) was concerned that the title of the bill, which was taxation, did not meet the purpose of the bill because we used general funds to fund the million dollars. So we are scheduling a meeting I believe next week with the AG, the governor's office, and Chair Luke, and myself, and HTA, to try to move that forward. MS. RUGGLES: Thank you for that information. That's all I have. Thank you all for your great work and for being here. I yield. CHR KANUHA: Thank you. Ms. David. MS. DAVID: Mahalo, Chair. Good morning everyone and thank you so much. want to thank Council Chair Poindexter for actually having you all come today because I think this is so necessary, especially when Legislature starts and we start to scramble because we have no clue. And the timing is so short that what you're telling us now gives us a timeline for us because a lot of things that you folks have briefed us on today will be noted and we definitelyI see things that I just want to be able to submit a resolution. So, I really don't have any questions, specific questions because I can contact you later about these things, but I do want to know how, in your view, would you Page 22 GREDC-12 November 1, 2017 could we help in getting, because of our timeline on getting things on the agenda, if you are planning to reintroduce something or introduce something new, how would we be able to get a quick heads up about that so that we can start drafting our support resolutions? Because I'm very glad Senator, that you shared that it does make a difference. Sometimes, we sit here and we go, "Well, we're not sure what impact it would have." So I'm very happy that you mentioned it does have a huge impact. So, I would like to be able to, this body be able to be proactive and get a head start. So with that, just letting us know as soon as you can so we can meet our deadlines and get something to you folks. Rep Onishi, I would like to thank you for the Pahala Senior Center because—and I know MR. ONISHL It's not done yet. MS. DAVID: I know it's not a firm date, but you know what? That's the first resolution I'd like to do if you can let me know and keep me informed about that. Other than that, I really thank all of you for your service and helping us do our work. And I think it really matters that we do a collaborative effort if we want things to happen on this island for our people. So, given that, I think I'll yield. I don't have any questions, but I just wanted to express my really sincere mahalo to all of you, evenI'm not forgetting you, Rep Lowen, in Kona, nahalo for being there. With that, I'll yield. Please, it's an open door, call my office, and give us a heads up as soon as you can. Mahalo. CHR KANUHA: Ms. Eoff MS. EOFF: Thank you, Mr. Chair. And I was just going to say about the same thing, but not only thank you for being here today, but also for all that you folks have been doing to advocate for issues on the Big Island. I was happy to learn that you meet together every Thursday because I think the stronger the voices are consolidated the better. Like Ms. David and everybody is saying, the more we can do to help, and if we can get the information early enough so that we can draft resolutions in support of your initiatives, it does take us a little bit of time, so that would be great. I wanted to thank Rep Lowen for always being available for discussions with me, and I think together, the Council and the Senators and Representatives can make a difference. Fresh Onishi used to always tell us how important it was to work with our State legislators and the longer I sat on the Council, the more I understand the wisdom in what he was saying to us. I was wondering if I could just ask Senator Ruderman to expand a little bit on the citizen -driven referendum and initiative process, how that would work in the State. It would be, I assume, state-wide signatures would be required to get Page 23 GREDC-12 November 1, 2017 something on the ballot, but—and I know we don't have too much time so just very briefly. MR. RUDERMAN: Sure, briefly. Right now, you can do such a referendum on the County level. MS. EOFF: Right. MR. RUDERMAN: It would be very similar. It would require—none of the details have been solidified. We'll propose our thoughts, but requires certain minimum number of signatures, which is a fairly high threshold. If legally possible—first of all, I want to say that we want to put in all the possible safeguards we can because there have been some abuses or negative consequences of initiative in other States that people always point to. So, we can prevent some of those, then we have a series of safeguards that we will propose and as it goes through the committees, of course, we'll be open to others. Basically, the citizens would gather signatures. If you get enough signatures it goes on the ballot. The citizens then vote. I mean it has to be vetted by the Attorney General's office and put on the ballot by elections. We envision safeguards such as no -paid signature gathering, the ability for the Legislature to overturn it the following year with a maybe two-thirds vote, limit it to non- budgetary concerns so that the initiative can't do something like Proposition 13 where it stops property tax increases. So, we're looking to other States and trying to make sure it works as well as possible. And the big—so the reason for it is because the citizens have no alternative when the State Legislature fails to deal with an issue. You can't recall a State Legislator, there's no term limits, and if a bill dies silently in Conference Committee or some other committee without explanation, as it does frequently, there's nothing the citizens can do about it. This would give an avenue of direct action for those things that aren't being dealt with by the State. In other states, these kind of initiatives have done things like legalize marijuana, raise the minimum wage, stuff like that, stuff that the Legislature have been too timid to do. Medical aid in dying has passed I think in four out of the five states, thank you, by initiatives. Some people will say you're opening up yourself to outside influences and they could be negative consequences. What I would say is if you're completely happy with the way our State Legislature is responding to public input right now and don't think anything needs to change, then I understand opposing initiatives. If you think there are some fundamental problems and you would like to experiment with a different solution, I think an initiative is a way to go forward. MS. EOFF: Okay, thank you, something to think about. Page 24 GREDC-12 November 1, 2017 MR. RUDERMAN: Thank you for asking by the way. MS. EOFF: I yield. CHR KANUHA: Ms. Lee Loy. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Chair. Thank you everyone for being here. I'm going to start kind of micro than macro out and I'll start with Mr. Onishi. Thank you so much for the $13 million for that four -mile bridge, it really is becoming a critical link between Puna and Hilo. I really want to reflect a little bit on what Representative Creagan just mentioned about an interdisciplinary or a multidisciplinary team because it is rather unconscionable that you folks put the money there for us but down at the County, we can't get you guys the building permits so that we can absorb the money and then build the bridge, or fix the roof. And I'm really hoping that the administration is listening in right now because that would be another critical piece to be at the table today is, as these monies comes in, we accelerate them down here at the County level and get those permits ready. So I want to thank you folks for all of the monies that you are putting into the counties, but the County has to do a better job. Our administration has to do a better job at identifying these monies and getting ready for them. I have to ask about the ambulance for Puna, if you could expand a little bit on that, Mr. Ruderman. I'm doing that for Ms. O'Hara. MR. RUDERMAN: Thank you. I think Representative Creagan might be able to correct me. We did pass the bill for the ambulance for the second year in a row, one for South Kona and one for Puna, but it didn't get the funding and therefore it died in Conference Committee without explanation. Am I correct about that? MR. CREAGAN: I believe that's the case. Unfortunately, that has been the case that we approve it and then Finance just stalls it. We keep pushing and again, resolution from you guys might help on that. The more noise they hear, the more likely they are to cave on that. I think they're a little sensitive to the neighbor islands after the TAT fiasco. MS. LOWEN: Can I chime in? Just I think part of the issue too is like it's not just a one-time appropriation once you—and I think it was not for South Kona if I'm correct, it was Puna and North Kona at Makalei, but maybe I'm getting that wrong. The challenge of course is the State has budget issues and once you do the funding for the ambulance, you have to fund the EMT crew, and then that's a line item year after year. You can't just—it's not a one-time appropriation. And then it's not just us on the Big Island asking for these too, there are other bills for similar things in all the counties. So I think it's just trying to figure out where the money is coming from, but I agree, I mean we absolutely need it, same for Page 25 GREDC-12 November 1, 2017 lifeguard at Kua Bay, same kind of issue there. But yeah, that's just my perspective from the Finance Committee. MR. RUDERMAN: If I could correctI misspoke, two years ago there was a bill for an ambulance in Kona, Makalei, I didn't know where Makalei was and Puna. Last year's bill, it was a Kauai and Puna ambulance. I think the thinking was Senate President would help get that through and would help his district also, but a lot of things went wrong at the end of last year and there was a lot of collateral damage for illogical reasons. I'd like to think this was a part of that. My district is larger than the size of Oahu. We don't have an emergency room or hospital, so it'swe consider it an emergency. Thank you. MS. LEE LOY: I do want to my express my support for more monies for rat lung, but I also do not want to forget ROD (Rapid `Ohi`a Death) because that to me is a critical link to our water sheds. And if we start losing our water sheds, we're going to be in even bigger problems and we're going to actually see agriculture really begin to struggle if we don't protect our water sheds. So as I kind of macro out, I do want to ask Mr. Onishi—and I got this morning's paper and I think this actually fits really nice into what we can expect for the future legislation and legislative session. This is in regards to governor Ige, if I read this story correctly, is working out a tax deal with Airbnb. Mr. Onishi, and you're quoted in this article, so if you wouldn't mind expanding a little bit about this particular Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the State and Airbnb purveyors. MR. ONISHL Okay, so two years ago, we passed a bill which would allow for Department of Taxation to recognize Airbnb as a tax collector and then remit the GE (General Excise) and the TAT tax for the property owners that they do business with, that they collect the rental fees for. That passed the Legislature, the governor vetoed it. So last year, all of session, in fact before session, we tried to work with the governor's office and other stakeholders on bills that would I guess, compromise on what was needed in order for the State to collect the taxes accurately for these short-term vacation rentals, whether they were legal or—not legal, whether they were permitted or not permitted. That bill died at the very end again so the governor's office committed to working with Department of Taxation and Airbnb on an MOU. And so I didn't find out about it until this past week, or last week and actually, the MOU has, from what I understand, been at the governor's office since September. Somebody got wind of it and now I guess, they're putting pressure on the governor's office to do something about it. Page 26 GREDC-12 November 1, 2017 Now understand, this only affects Airbnb and only their model of addressing short-term accommodations. So there's other models out there, home away, VRBO (Vacation Rentals by Owner), they don't collect the money from the renter, right? The visitor. They just charge a fee to the owner and they pay the taxes, the excise tax on those fees to the State of Hawaii. So they're very much against the whole concept of collecting the taxes. There are other smaller entities that do the same thing as Airbnb, and what we're hoping is that once Airbnb starts collecting, then these guys will also begin to voluntarily collect also. So that's that direction. The House especially, is very much aware of your actions and the direction of the County. I've spoken to Mr. Takemoto about the concepts that they are trying to put together in an ordinance. My biggest concern—and obviously the City and County is moving forward with their own types of ordinances, Maui is moving forward with a different strategy. Last session at the end, I talked to Mr. Victorino, who was the lobbyist or so, or anyway, represented the Councils and I told him I'm more than happy to meet with the Association of County Councils to talk about trying to coordinate efforts and to try to get similar legislation, so that stuff that we do will affect everybody equally, or we can help support the direction you guys want to head in. But with four counties doing four different things, it's very hard for us to do legislation that's not—may not adversely affect one County versus another. So, I told him that he needs to bring that discussion to you guys, the leadership of the Councils. I don't know if he's done that yet because I haven't heard from him. But we're fully aware. We tried to look at utilizing other statutes like what is in place for timeshares, in terms of requirement for registration, et cetera. So we're still trying to explore that. There's been discussion that these guys may already fall under that requirement, now it's the enforcement part. So I know you guys are talking about registration of the units and I think that's a great direction to head in. We are alsoI had a discussion with the Department of Taxation (DOTax). They are looking at increasing their enforcement staff, specifically to look at whether or not people are paying the TAT and the excise tax on short-term rentals. So, they'll be some legislation probably to request funding and positions for DOTax. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Mr. Onishi. And you're absolutely right, we have four counties trying to figure out their own land use ordinances, along with their real property tax structure, and then we've got the State doing their piece. I just want to urge my other colleagues, that's why our real property tax reform, especially as it relates to vacation rentals, needs to be succinct with what is happening at the Legislature. Page 27 GREDC-12 November 1, 2017 And this particular article mentions that Airbnb says collecting from its host would general more than $30 million per year in additional State taxes, and I don't want this County to miss out on that opportunity. And so again, I hope our administration is listening in as we move forward through our real property tax reform, that we start coordinating a lot better with our State Representatives so we can accelerate those dollars. And I just want to share, City and County of Honolulu is working on a number of those today. It talks about land use ordinances that would limit the number of new Airbnb or bed and breakfast in certain areas, how to collect for them, or how to further regulate those vacation rentals. We need to do a better job back here at home and making sure the tax dollars stay home. So I'm going to leave it there. Thank you, Mr. Onishi, Senator Ruderman, and Mr. Creagan. Thank you so much, but I think this is something we as a County should start to get ahead of, is this deal that the governor's working on right now and go get ready. So thank you all for your time. CHR KANUHA: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy. Council Members, I know you might have a ton more questions that we could talk about all day with our island legislators, but if you could please email them, concerns, questions, and everything that we talked about today, if you have any more because I know we got to get going on our agenda and I know you guys got to get going too on the rest of your day. But I really want to mahalo you guys for coming. Thank you, Ms. Poindexter, for organizing this and putting this forward. I think it's really important, especially in light of what happened before. I think it's really important that us as counties work really closely with you guys as State legislators. We don't want to buck heads on everything that we're doing. We want to work together to get things moving, so I really appreciate you guys being here and talking story with us. So saying that, again, mahalo for coming. Thank you, Nicole, for being there in Kona and using our videoconferencing system. Hopefully, we can talk to our other State legislators that haven't, that wasn't able to make it today to just continue the conversation going forward, especially in this next legislative session. Again, mahalo you guys for being here and Council Members—Val, since you introduced it, do you want to say anything? Please, I know we haven't fully formulated our HSAC (Hawai`i State Association of Counties) package yet with the rest of the counties, but when we do that, please look for it. There are a lot of really good items in there that hopefully can help the entire State move forward. So mahalo for working with us on those items. Okay members, all in favor of filing this communication, say "aye." Page 28 GREDC-12 November 1, 2017 Vote on Comm. 540: The motion to file Comm. 540 was carried by the following (Approved) voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members David, Eoff, Lee Loy, O'Hara, Poindexter, Richards, Ruggles, and Chair Kanuha — 8. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Member Chung —1. Excused: None. CHR. KANUHA: Motion is filed. May I have a motion to adjourn? ORDER OF The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, RESOLUTIONS: Order of Resolutions. (There were none.) BILLS FOR The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of ORDINANCES: business, Bills for Ordinances. (There were none.) ADJOURN- There being no further business, at 10:43 a.m., Ms. Poindexter moved to adjourn MENT: the meeting. Seconded by Mr. Richards and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members David, Eoff, Lee Loy, O'Hara, Poindexter, Richards, Ruggles, and Chair Kanuha — 8. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Member Chung — 1. Excused: None. CHR. KANUHA: We are adjourned. Approved: Mr. Dru Mamo Kanuha, Chair Governmental Relations and Economic Development Committee DMK/jm NOV 1 4 2017 (Date) Page 29