Bill Text: HI HCR57 | 2020 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Declaring A Climate Emergency And Requesting Statewide Collaboration Toward An Immediate Just Transition And Emergency Mobilization Effort To Restore A Safe Climate.

Spectrum: Strong Partisan Bill (Democrat 11-1)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-03-10 - Referred to EEP, FIN, referral sheet 39 [HCR57 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2020-HCR57-Introduced.html

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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.C.R. NO.	57
THIRTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2020
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

DECLARING A CLIMATE EMERGENCY AND REQUESTING STATEWIDE COLLABORATION TOWARD AN IMMEDIATE JUST TRANSITION AND EMERGENCY MOBILIZATION EFFORT TO RESTORE A SAFE CLIMATE.

 

 

 

WHEREAS, ­global warming has now raised the air temperature about one degree Celsius, and scientists have documented that this extra heat is already having a dramatic impact on the environment:  larger and stronger hurricanes, increased drought and flooding, shifting rain patterns, more and larger wildfires, a hotter and more acidic ocean, and damaged ecosystems, both marine and terrestrial, across the planet; and

 

WHEREAS, in April 2016 world leaders recognized the urgent need to combat climate change by signing the Paris Agreement, agreeing to keep global warming "well below 2°C (3.6˚F) above pre-industrial levels" and to "pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C (2.7˚F)"; and

 

WHEREAS, in 2017 over fifteen thousand scientists published a "Warning to Humanity" declaring that greenhouse gases produced from human activities have "pushed Earth's ecosystems to their breaking point", and in 2019 over eleven thousand scientists declared unequivocally that "planet Earth is facing a climate emergency" and it will now take "an immense increase of scale in endeavors to conserve our biosphere" to avoid untold suffering; and

 

WHEREAS, in the absence of action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, reports indicate that warming is likely to accelerate in the next decade and reach 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2030, ten years earlier than projected by the 2014 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and 2 degrees Celsius by 2045; and

 

WHEREAS, based upon the scientific information and expertise available, Hawaii is in danger of disaster occurrences as a result of the effects of global warming, thereby endangering the health, safety, and welfare of the people, warranting preemptive and protective action; and

 

WHEREAS, the Hawaii State Constitution adopts the public trust doctrine for the benefit of the people and the right of each person to a clean and healthful environment; and

 

WHEREAS, 1,330 jurisdictions in twenty-six countries have already declared a climate emergency as of January 28, 2020; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Thirtieth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2020, the Senate concurring, that this body acknowledges that an existential climate emergency threatens humanity and the natural world and declares a climate emergency and requests statewide collaboration toward an immediate just transition and emergency mobilization effort to restore a safe climate; and

 

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that these climate mitigation and adaptation efforts mobilize at the necessary scale and speed:

 

(1)  A statewide commitment to a just transition toward a decarbonized economy that invests in and ensures clean energy, quality jobs, and a statewide commitment to a climate emergency mobilization effort to reverse the climate crisis, which, with appropriate financial and regulatory assistance from state authorities, will transform the economy at emergency speed to zero emissions and meet the emission targets as set forth by the IPCC report to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius;

 

(2)  A prohibition against any further public or private investment or subsidies in projects that will make the climate emergency worse, such as coal, oil, gas, and tree-burning projects, and redirecting and channeling subsidies toward low climate impact energy projects and workforce retraining;

(3)  Facilitation of investments in beneficial projects and infrastructure such as zero emissions energy; electric vehicles, including clean fleet transitions for the State and counties; energy efficiency; reforestation; afforestation; climate-smart agriculture; and climate-friendly land use; and

 

(4)  Organization and tracking of a time-phased implementation plan, assigning state government agencies responsibilities and timetables and establishing task dependencies between departments, with a priority to plan and coordinate, at a statewide level, all climate and resilience responses, including emergency mitigation of climate change effects, resilience, adaptation, engagement, education, advocacy, and research and development programs, beginning with a robust climate emergency public education and stakeholder outreach process, and including a Climate Impacts section to all departmental reports utilizing lifecycle greenhouse gas analysis that provides meaningful information on how proposed actions will impact greenhouse gas reduction efforts; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the State commits to statewide action that is rooted in equity, self-determination, culture, tradition, and the belief that people locally and around the world have the right to clean, healthy, and adequate air, water, land, food, education, and shelter; and

 

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that nothing in this measure

constitutes a declaration of an emergency for purposes of any act authorizing the exercise, during the period of a state emergency or other type of declared emergency, of any special or extraordinary power; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Governor; Attorney General; Chairperson of the Board of Land and Natural Resources, who also serves as Co-Chairperson of the Hawaii Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Commission; Director of the Office of Planning, who also serves as Chairperson of the Greenhouse Gas Sequestration Task Force and Co-Chairperson of the Hawaii Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Commission; and mayors of the City and County of Honolulu and counties of Hawaii, Kauai, and Maui.

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title: 

Climate Emergency; Statewide Collaboration; Greenhouse Gases