Bill Text: HI HCR91 | 2022 | Regular Session | Introduced

Hawaii House Concurrent Resolution 91 (Prior Session Legislation)

Introduced

Bill Title: Declaring Overmilitarization To Be A Threat To The Security Of Hawaii And The International Community And Urging Prioritization Of Humanitarian Aid In The United States' Response To The Ukrainian Conflict And Increased Efforts To Strengthen International Nuclear Nonproliferation.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-03-23 - The committee(s) on CMV recommend(s) that the measure be deferred. [HCR91 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2022-HCR91-Introduced.html

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.C.R. NO.	91
THIRTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2022
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

DECLARING OVERMILITARIZATION TO BE A THREAT TO THE SECURITY OF HAWAII AND THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY AND URGING PRIORITIZATION OF HUMANITARIAN AID IN THE UNITED STATES' RESPONSE TO THE UKRAINIAN CONFLICT AND INCREASED EFFORTS TO STRENGTHEN INTERNATIONAL NUCLEAR NONPROLIFERATION.

WHEREAS, in February of 2022, Russia invaded the nation of Ukraine, producing the greatest humanitarian crisis in Europe since World War II; and

WHEREAS, according to Filippo Grandi, the United Nations high commissioner for refugees, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine has displaced 1,500,000 Ukrainians as of March 6, 2022; and

WHEREAS, human rights experts have estimated that the Ukrainian exodus from Russia's invasion could result in up to ten million refugees fleeing the conflict; and

WHEREAS, the Russian attack on Ukraine is a clear violation of international law that has been strongly and rightfully condemned by the international community, including the United Nations General Assembly; and

WHEREAS, to resolve the conflict in Ukraine, the United States must couple its condemnation of Russian imperialism with a reconsideration of the United States' militaristic foreign policy; and

WHEREAS, following the end of the Cold War, the United States gradually expanded its military footprint in Europe, including through the acceptance of Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1998, and later including in NATO additional Baltic nations that are perched on the border of the Russian Federation; and

WHEREAS, numerous foreign policy experts warned that these actions would lead to future Russian aggression, including former United States ambassador to the Soviet Union George Kennan, who said, "I think it is the beginning of a new cold war"; and

WHEREAS, former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates stated in his memoir that "US agreements with the Romanian and Bulgarian governments to rotate troops through bases in those countries was a needless provocation" and that "trying to bring Georgia and Ukraine into NATO was truly overreaching" and a case of "recklessly ignoring what the Russians considered their own vital national interests"; and

WHEREAS, in December of 2021, the United States Congress authorized $768 billion in defense spending, including authorization for nuclear weapons programs, which was by some measures the biggest defense spending authorization bill in history; and

WHEREAS, a primary international security concern of the Russian assault is a potential attack on a NATO member, which could draw the United States into a military conflict involving countries that possess nuclear weapons; and

WHEREAS, this concern was magnified on February 27, 2022, when Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his nation's nuclear forces into special combat readiness; and

WHEREAS, a commitment to nuclear nonproliferation is essential to maintaining peace and security for the community of nations and all mankind; and

WHEREAS, defense industry contractors often use international conflicts as opportunities to lobby for appropriations that generate profits for the United States' military-industrial complex; and

WHEREAS, former United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned about the expansion of the military-industrial complex in a 1961 speech given at the height of the Cold War, saying, "In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist."; and

WHEREAS, overmilitarization also poses grave domestic consequences, including for the people of Hawaii; and

WHEREAS, in November of 2021, the Department of Health, Honolulu Board of Water Supply, and United States Navy found that the Red Hill Underground Fuel Storage Facility was leaking petroleum into Honolulu's water supply; and

WHEREAS, according to water sampling results released by the Department of Health on December 10, 2021, state testing of the Navy's Red Hill shaft found levels of gasoline and diesel-range hydrocarbons that were as much as three hundred fifty times higher than state approved levels for drinking water; and

WHEREAS, mitigating the impact of the leak required the temporary closure of Honolulu's largest water source, the Halawa shaft, which provides approximately twenty percent of Oahu's daily water supply and serves roughly four hundred thousand residents; and

WHEREAS, the military has also been responsible for the desecration of Hawaii's natural resources and ceded lands; and

WHEREAS, in a unanimous decision in August of 2019, the Hawaii Supreme Court concluded that the State has a duty to protect ceded land, even when such land is leased to the military; and

WHEREAS, the Hawaii Supreme Court further found that the State had failed in its constitutional duty to inspect and monitor lands at the Pōhakuloa Training Area on Hawaii Island; and

WHEREAS, in response to the ruling, the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation stated, "As a result of today's decision, the State is required to 'develop and execute a plan to conduct regular, periodic monitoring and inspection' for the lands at Pōhakuloa and to 'take an active role in preserving trust property and may not passively allow [trust lands] to fall into ruin'"; and

WHEREAS, preserving Hawaii's natural resources is critical to safeguarding the public trust, protecting Native Hawaiian rights and culture, and advancing the State's goal of creating a sustainable economy; and

WHEREAS, reconsidering the social, economic, and foreign policy impacts of unchecked militarization does not in any way undermine the force of the United States' denunciation of Russia's unjustified violation of Ukrainian sovereignty or the atrocities that Russia has committed against the Ukrainian people; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Thirty-first Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2022, the Senate concurring, that this body declares overmilitarization to be a threat to Hawaii and the international community; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that President Joseph Biden and the United States Congress are urged to commit to prioritizing humanitarian aid in the United States' response to the Ukrainian conflict; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that President Joseph Biden and the United States Congress are urged to increase efforts to strengthen the international nuclear nonproliferation regime and reinforce its foundational bilateral and international agreements; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the United Nations Secretary-General, President of the United States, Vice President of the United States, United States Secretary of Defense, United States Secretary of the Navy, United States Secretary of the Army, President Pro Tempore of the United States Senate, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, members of Hawaii's congressional delegation, Governor, Chairperson of the Board of Land and Natural Resources, and Chairperson of the Board of Trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.