Bill Text: HI SB1459 | 2025 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Relating To Homeless Encampments On Department Of Land And Natural Resources Lands.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2025-02-14 - Report adopted; Passed Second Reading, as amended (SD 1) and referred to WAM. [SB1459 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2025-SB1459-Amended.html
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THE SENATE |
S.B. NO. |
1459 |
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THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2025 |
S.D. 1 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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A BILL FOR AN ACT
RELATING TO HOMELESS ENCAMPMENTS ON DEPARTMENT OF LAND AND NATURAL RESOURCES LANDS.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
In fiscal year 2024-2025, cleaning up after homeless encampments on lands managed by the department of land and natural resources is expected to cost the State approximately $3 million. For fiscal year 2023-2024, the department, with help from the Hawaii department of transportation, cleaned up homeless encampments comprised of approximately two hundred twenty-three people in twenty-four locations on the department of land and natural resources' lands. At least one hundred twenty-nine days were spent cleaning department properties for this purpose. Many of these efforts have occurred as multi-day clean-ups because of the amount of waste and debris or the size of the encampment. For example, at Diamond Head, it takes approximately four days to clean the entire property after the removal of homeless encampments; and for a single clean-up effort in 2024 near Kalihi stream on Oahu, approximately one month of labor cost the department approximately $1 million, in‑part because the number of individuals needed to perform the work was nearly double the number usually needed for a standard large clean-up (e.g., Diamond Head) to approximately thirty-to-fifty individuals each day, and also due to costs such as for renting three forty-foot trash bins per day and dump-site fees. In the past, funding for these clean-ups on department lands statewide was appropriated to the department of human services and then transferred to the Hawaii department of transportation, which handled procurement and management of the work. However, the department of human services did not include funding for statewide homeless encampment cleanups that cover lands managed by the department of land and natural resources in its budget request for fiscal year 2023-2024. The department of human services is not expected to include this funding in its budget requests moving forward. To avoid re-directing crucial operating funds to cover the clean-up costs associated with homeless encampments on its lands, the department of land and natural resources requires additional funds. The purpose of this Act is to provide dedicated funding to the department for this purpose.
SECTION 2. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $ or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2025-2026 and the same sum or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2026-2027 to carry out the purposes of this Act.
The sums appropriated shall be expended by the department of land and natural resources.
SECTION 3. Beginning with fiscal biennium 2027 to 2029 and each biennium thereafter, the department of land and natural resources shall include in its annual budget request line-item funding to cover the clean-up costs associated with homeless encampments on its lands.
SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect on January 1, 2050.
Report Title:
DLNR; State Lands; Homeless Encampments; Clean-Ups; Appropriations
Description:
Appropriates funds to the Department of Land and
Natural
Resources to
cover its work cleaning up after the removal of
homeless
encampments on state lands under the Department's
control. Effective 1/1/2050. (SD1)
The summary description
of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is
not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.
