Bill Text: HI HB2121 | 2022 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating To Emergency Management.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-01-28 - Referred to PDP, JHA, referral sheet 3 [HB2121 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2022-HB2121-Introduced.html
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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
H.B. NO. |
2121 |
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THIRTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2022 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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A BILL FOR AN ACT
RELATING TO EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT.
BE IT
ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
SECTION 1. The legislature
finds that the emergence of coronavirus
disease 2019 (COVID-19) and its variants created a great challenge to global
health, the economy, and our way of life.
The Governor and county mayors have had to exercise their emergency
powers under chapter 127A, Hawaii Revised Statutes, to impose rules aimed to
control the spread of COVID-19. The
enforcement of those rules has been critical to efforts to limit the spread of
COVID-19, protect the health and safety of the community, manage medical
resources, and promote economic recovery.
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of clear legal
frameworks for State and county emergency management to ensure the State and
counties are ready for any type of emergency.
The purpose of this Act is to clarify State and county emergency management authority,
ensure effective and adaptable emergency responses, and further the goals of
transparency and democratic accountability within our constitutional system.
The legislature finds
that chapter 127A, Hawaii Revised Statutes, should clearly specify and articulate
the bases for emergency actions. To that
end, this Act amends chapter 127A to require specificity when suspending
provisions of law during an emergency; clarify when and how Hawaii's emergency
management system involves coordination between state and county emergency
management functions; and clarify the legal framework governing the extension
and termination of states of emergency.
SECTION 2. Section 127A-1, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
amended by amending subsection (c) to read as follows:
"(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] that is inconsistent
with the Constitution and laws of the United States[,] or the constitution
of the State of Hawaii, but, in so construing this chapter, due
consideration shall be given to the circumstances as they exist from time to
time. 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."
""Severe weather warning" means the issuance
by the National Weather Service of a public notification that a dangerous weather
condition exists that could impact the State, or any portion of it, within a
specified period of time. This term
includes but is not limited to, warnings of coastal inundation, high surf,
flash flooding, tsunami, or hurricane."
SECTION 4. Section 127A-13, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
amended to read as follows:
"§127A-13 Additional powers in an emergency period. (a)
In the event of a state of emergency declared by the governor pursuant
to section 127A-14, the governor may exercise the following additional powers
pertaining to emergency management during the emergency period:
(1) Provide for and
require the quarantine or segregation of persons who are affected with or believed
to have been exposed to any infectious, communicable, or other disease that is,
in the governor's opinion, dangerous to the public health and safety, or
persons who are the source of other contamination, in any case where, in the
governor's opinion, the existing laws are not adequate to assure the public
health and safety; provide for the care and treatment of the persons;
supplement the provisions of sections 325-32 to 325-38 concerning compulsory
immunization programs; provide for the isolation or closing of property [which]
that is a source of contamination or is in a dangerous condition in any
case where, in the governor's opinion, the existing laws are not adequate to
assure the public health and safety, and designate as public nuisances acts, practices,
conduct, or conditions that are dangerous to the public health or safety or to
property; authorize that public nuisances be summarily abated and, if need be,
that the property be destroyed, by any police officer or authorized person, or
provide for the cleansing or repair of property, and if the cleansing or repair
is to be at the expense of the owner, the procedure therefor shall follow as nearly
as may be the provisions of section 322-2, which shall be applicable; and
further, authorize without the permission of the owners or occupants, entry on
private premises for any such purposes;
(2) Relieve hardships and inequities, or
obstructions to the public health, safety, or welfare, found by the governor to
exist in the laws and to result from the operation of federal programs or
measures taken under this chapter, by suspending the laws, in whole or in part,
or by alleviating, [the provisions of laws on such] subject to
terms and conditions [as] that the governor may [impose] specify,
the provisions of laws, including licensing laws, quarantine laws, and laws
relating to labels, grades, and standards;
(3) Suspend
any law that impedes or tends to impede or be detrimental to the expeditious
and efficient execution of, or to conflict with, emergency functions, including
laws [which] that by this chapter specifically are made applicable
to emergency personnel; provided that any suspension of law shall be no
broader and last no longer than the governor deems necessary for the execution
of emergency management functions, and any suspension of law shall identify the
section of law suspended and, for each section, shall both specify the emergency
management functions facilitated and justify the suspension based on protecting
the public health, safety, and welfare;
(4) Suspend
the provisions of any regulatory law prescribing the procedures for out-of-state
utilities to conduct business in the State including any licensing laws applicable
to out-of-state utilities or their respective employees, as well as any order,
rule, or regulation of any state agency, if strict compliance with the provisions
of any such law, order, rule, or regulation would in any way prevent, hinder,
or delay necessary action of a state utility in coping with the emergency or
disaster with assistance that may be provided under a mutual assistance
agreement;
(5) In
the event of disaster or emergency beyond local control, or an event which, in
the opinion of the governor, is such as to make state operational control or
coordination necessary, or upon request of the [local entity,] county,
assume direct operational control over all or any part of the emergency management
functions within the affected area; and notwithstanding sections 127A-14 and
127A-25, require the county to obtain the governor's approval, or the approval
of the director of the Hawaii emergency management agency, prior to issuing any
emergency order, rule, or proclamation under this chapter;
(6) Shut
off water mains, gas mains, electric power connections, or suspend other
services, and, to the extent permitted by or under federal law, suspend
electronic media transmission;
(7) Direct
and control the mandatory evacuation of the civilian population;
(8) Exercise
additional emergency functions to the extent necessary to prevent hoarding,
waste, or destruction of materials, supplies, commodities, accommodations, facilities,
and services, to effectuate equitable distribution thereof, or to establish
priorities therein as the public welfare may require; to investigate; and
notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, to regulate or prohibit, by
means of licensing, rationing, or otherwise, the storage, transportation, use,
possession, maintenance, furnishing, sale, or distribution thereof, and any
business or any transaction related thereto;
(9) Suspend
section 8-1, relating to state holidays, except the last paragraph relating to
holidays declared by the president, which shall remain unaffected, and in the
event of the suspension, the governor may establish state holidays by
proclamation;
(10) Adjust
the hours for voting to take into consideration the working hours of the voters
during the emergency period, and suspend those provisions of section 11-131
that fix the hours for voting, and fix other hours by stating the same in the
election proclamation or notice, as the case may be;
(11) Assure
the continuity of service by critical infrastructure facilities, both publicly
and privately owned, by regulating or, if necessary to the continuation of the
service thereof, by taking over and operating the same; and
(12) Except as provided in section 134-7.2, whenever in the governor's opinion, the laws of the State do not adequately provide for the common defense, public health, safety, and welfare, investigate, regulate, or prohibit the storage, transportation, use, possession, maintenance, furnishing, sale, or distribution of, as well as any transaction related to, explosives, firearms, and ammunition, inflammable materials and other objects, implements, substances, businesses, or services of a hazardous or dangerous character, or particularly capable of misuse, or obstructive of or tending to obstruct law enforcement, emergency management, or military operations, including intoxicating liquor and the liquor business; and authorize the seizure and forfeiture of any such objects, implements, or substances unlawfully possessed, as provided in this chapter.
(b) In the event of a local state of emergency
declared by the mayor pursuant to [[]section[]] 127A-14, the
mayor may exercise the following additional powers pertaining to emergency
management during the emergency period:
(1) Relieve hardships
and inequities, or obstructions to the public health, safety, or welfare, found
by the mayor to exist in the laws of the county and to result from the operation
of federal programs or measures taken under this chapter, by suspending the county
laws, in whole or in part, or by alleviating, [the provisions of county
laws on such] subject to terms and conditions [as] that
the mayor may [impose] specify, the provisions of county laws,
including county licensing laws[,] and county laws relating to labels,
grades, and standards;
(2) Suspend any county law that impedes or tends
to impede or be detrimental to the expeditious and efficient execution of, or
to conflict with, emergency functions, including laws [which] that
by this chapter specifically are made applicable to emergency personnel; provided
that any suspension of law shall be no broader and last no longer than the
mayor deems necessary for the execution of emergency management functions, and
any suspension of law shall identify the section of law suspended and, for each
section, shall both specify the emergency management functions facilitated and
justify the suspension based on protecting the public health, safety, and welfare;
(3) Shut
off water mains, gas mains, electric power connections, or suspend other
services; and, to the extent permitted by or under federal law, suspend
electronic media transmission;
(4) Direct
and control the mandatory evacuation of the civilian population; and
(5) Exercise additional emergency functions, to the extent necessary to prevent hoarding, waste, or destruction of materials, supplies, commodities, accommodations, facilities, and services, to effectuate equitable distribution thereof, or to establish priorities therein as the public welfare may require; to investigate; and any other county law to the contrary notwithstanding, to regulate or prohibit, by means of licensing, rationing, or otherwise, the storage, transportation, use, possession, maintenance, furnishing, sale, or distribution thereof, and any business or any transaction related thereto."
SECTION 5. Section 127A-14, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:
"§127A-14 State of emergency. (a) The governor may declare the existence of a
state of emergency in the State by proclamation if the governor finds that an
emergency or disaster has occurred or that there is imminent danger or threat
of an emergency or disaster in any portion of the State.
(b) A mayor may declare the existence of a local
state of emergency in the county by proclamation if the mayor finds that an
emergency or disaster has occurred or that there is imminent danger or threat
of an emergency or disaster in any portion of the county.
(c) The governor or mayor shall be the sole judge
of the existence of the danger, threat, or circumstances giving rise to a
declaration, extension, or termination of a state of emergency in the
State or a local state of emergency in the county, as applicable. This section shall not limit the power and
authority of the governor under section 127A-13(a)(5).
(d) A state of emergency and a local state of emergency
shall terminate automatically sixty days after the issuance of a proclamation
of a state of emergency or local state of emergency, respectively, [or] unless
extended or terminated by a separate or supplementary proclamation
of the governor or mayor[, whichever occurs first]. The governor or mayor shall proclaim the
termination of a state of emergency or local state of emergency, respectively,
at the earliest possible date that conditions warrant."
SECTION 6. Section 127A-30, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
amended by amending subsection (c) to read as follows:
"(c) The prohibitions under subsection (a) shall
remain in effect until twenty-four hours after the severe weather warning is
canceled by the National Weather Service; or in the event of a declaration, [the
later of a date specified by the governor or mayor in the declaration or
ninety-six] seventy-two hours after the effective date and time of
the declaration, unless such prohibition is identified and continued [by
a supplementary declaration issued] by the governor or mayor[.] in
the proclamation or any supplementary proclamation. Any proclamation issued under this chapter that
fails to state the time at which it will take effect, shall take effect at twelve
noon of the day on which it takes effect."
SECTION 7. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.
SECTION 8. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
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INTRODUCED BY: |
_____________________________ |
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BY REQUEST |
Report Title:
Emergency Management
Description:
Amends chapter 127A, Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS), to clarify State and local authority, ensure effective and adaptable emergency response, and further the goals of transparency and democratic accountability. Clarifies that powers granted for emergency purposes shall not be construed as permitting actions inconsistent with the state constitution. Amends chapter 127A, HRS, to provide for greater clarity and specificity regarding the scope of suspensions of law. Clarifies that Hawaii's emergency management system includes coordination between State and county emergency management functions, where appropriate. Clarifies the legal framework governing the extension and termination of emergency periods. Adds the definition of the term "severe weather warning" as used in section 127A-30, HRS.
The summary description
of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is
not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.
