Bill Text: HI HB1921 | 2022 | Regular Session | Introduced

Hawaii House Bill 1921 (Prior Session Legislation)

HI State Legislature page for HB1921

Introduced

Bill Title: Relating To Legislative Oversight Of Executive Authority.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 3-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-01-28 - Referred to PDP, JHA, referral sheet 3 [HB1921 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2022-HB1921-Introduced.html

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	1921
THIRTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2022
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

relating to legislative oversight of executive authority.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that on March 4, 2020, the governor issued an emergency proclamation under Hawaii Revised Statutes § 127A in anticipation of the spread of COVID-19 to the state, and has since issued multiple new emergency proclamations for the COVID-19 outbreak. Since the initial outbreak through the present day, the outbreak of COVID-19 has resulted in serious consequences for residents of Hawaii and the state's economy.

Many communities in the state, including the state's largest city of Honolulu, have seen fit to impose lockdowns or safer-at-home orders, which have severely reduced economic activity in those communities. These orders and other pandemic-related factors have forced numerous state businesses to close their doors and lay off employees, or reduce service levels and employee hours far below what would otherwise have been provided, to the detriment of both those businesses and their hardworking employees. Interstate and intrastate travel restrictions of varying levels of restrictiveness, while intended to contain the spread of COVID-19, have resulted in further reduction of economic activities in the state.

The state has established and facilitated multiple programs to provide economic assistance to the struggling state residents and businesses, but the programs, while provided much-needed relief, generally fall short of fully replacing regular levels of voluntary economic activity. As a result of voluntary and government-imposed reductions of economic activity, data compiled by the Research and Economic Analysis Division of the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism showed that:

(1) The state lost approximately 15,000 food services and drinking places between 2019-2021,

(2) The state lost over 10,000 accommodation jobs between 2019-2021, and

(3) The state lost over 10,000 retail trade jobs between 2019-2021.

The legislature further finds that multiple vaccines for COVID-19 have been developed and are currently being distributed, allowing the state to move into a new phase of its COVID-19 recovery efforts.

The purpose of this Act is to take appropriate steps to limit further harm to the state's economy by setting legislative limits on the emergency power of the office of the Governor.

SECTION 2. Section 127A, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows: " §127A-1 Policy and purpose. (a) Because of the existing and increasing possibility of the occurrence of disasters or emergencies of unprecedented size and destructiveness resulting from natural or man-made hazards, and in order to ensure that the preparations of this State will be adequate to deal with such disasters or emergencies; to ensure the administration of state and federal programs providing disaster relief to individuals; and generally to protect the public health, safety, and welfare, and to preserve the lives and property of the people of the State, it is hereby found and declared to be necessary:

(1) To provide for emergency management by the State, and to authorize the creation of local organizations for emergency management in the counties of the State;

(2) To confer upon the governor and upon the mayors of the counties of the State the emergency powers necessary to prepare for and respond to emergencies or disasters;

(3) To provide for the rendering of mutual aid among the counties of the State and with other states and in cooperation with the federal government with respect to the carrying out of emergency management functions;

(4) To permit out-of-state utilities to provide services in the State pursuant to a mutual assistance agreement with a state utility to repair, renovate, or install electrical or natural gas facilities that have been damaged, impaired, or destroyed due to or in connection with such disasters or emergencies; and

(5) To provide programs, in cooperation with other governmental agencies, the private sector, and nonprofit organizations, to educate and train the public to be prepared for emergencies and disasters.

(b) It is further declared to be the purpose of this chapter and the policy of the State that all emergency management functions of this State and its counties be coordinated to the maximum extent with the comparable functions of the federal government, including its various departments, and agencies of other states and localities, and with private-sector and nonprofit organizations, to the end that the most effective preparation and use may be made of the nation's personnel, resources, and facilities for dealing with any emergency or disaster that may occur.

(c) It is the intent of the legislature to provide for and confer comprehensive powers for the purposes stated herein. This chapter shall be liberally construed to effectuate its purposes; provided that this chapter shall not be construed as conferring any power or permitting any action which is inconsistent with the Constitution and laws of the United States, but, in so construing this chapter, due consideration shall be given to the circumstances [~~as they exist from time to time~~] upon the expiring of the third consecutive emergency proclamation issued under this section, at which time the legislature shall be granted authority to convene for the purpose of discussing whether or not the situation does in fact meet the character and magnitude of an emergency or disaster as contemplated by sections 127A-2 and 127A-14. This chapter shall not be deemed to have been amended by any act hereafter enacted at the same or any other session of the legislature, unless this chapter is amended by express reference."

(c) The Governor, or the legislature by concurrent resolution, may at any time invalidate an order, an ordinance, a proclamation, a rule, or any other measure issued by a political body to address a purported emergency if the Governor or legislature determines that such order unnecessarily restricts a constitutional right, fundamental liberty, or statutory right.

SECTION 3. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 4. In codifying the new sections, the revisor of statutes shall substitute the appropriate section number for the letters used in designating the new sections in this Act.

SECTION 5. This Act shall take effect upon approval.

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title:

Limiting Executive Emergency Authority.

Description:

Creates a legislative check on the emergency powers of a governor during a declared state of emergency.

The summary description of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.