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THE SENATE |
S.C.R. NO. |
111 |
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THIRTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2022 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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SENATE CONCURRENT
RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, most landlords require their tenants to be in good standing, especially before renewing a lease, which includes ensuring that the tenant has met all financial, contractual, and legal obligations; and
WHEREAS, standard lease agreements allow a landlord to terminate a lease when the tenant commits a crime on the property; and
WHEREAS, the obligation of the lessees of state public lands include paying all moneys owed to the State, carrying out environmental maintenance and necessary remediations on the subject lands, and refraining from criminal activity; and
WHEREAS, as a landlord, the State should ensure that all of its lessees meet these financial, contractual, and legal obligations, whether the lessees are private individuals, corporations, or the federal government, and exercise its right to terminate a lease when a lessee engages in criminal activity on the property; and
WHEREAS, some existing lessees of public lands are not in good standing with the State; and
WHEREAS, the United States Department of Defense has unmet financial and legal obligations, and pursuant to section 3 of United States Public Law 81-874, the Department of Defense is required to pay impact aid to offset the financial burden on the State's public education system; and
WHEREAS, according to the Department of Education, the federal impact aid reimbursement paid to the State for fiscal year 2019 was only 12.91 percent of the total per-pupil cost of educating eleven thousand to fourteen thousand military students, and despite the billions of dollars in federal impact aid reimbursement owed, the Department of Defense continues to lease and control large portions of Hawaii's public lands; and
WHEREAS, the United States Navy and Defense Logistics Agency are not engaging in required maintenance and environmental protection efforts on state public lands, and pursuant to a 2015 administrative order on consent, the Navy and Defense Logistics Agency are required to carry out regular inspections and repairs of the underground storage tanks at Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility and to reimburse the Department of Health for any costs the Department incurs in its maintenance of the facility; and
WHEREAS, recent water contamination that is thought to be traced to the Red Hill facility suggests that the Navy and Defense Logistics Agency have not been performing the required environmental maintenance and necessary remediations, and it is unclear whether the Department of Health's associated costs have been reimbursed; and
WHEREAS, Monsanto Company has repeatedly been found guilty of criminal activity, and despite accruing more than $20,000,000 in fines and years of probation for storing and using banned pesticides on the islands of Oahu, Maui, and Molokai, Monsanto Company still holds a lease with the State for public lands; now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Thirty-first Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2022, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Governor is requested to certify good standing for all lessees of state public lands and prohibit the State from leasing or renewing the lease of any public lands to any individual, corporation, or public agency that has not met all financial, contractual, and legal obligations; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Governor and Chairperson of the Board of Land and Natural Resources.
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OFFERED BY: |
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Office of the Governor; Board of Land and Natural Resources; Impact Aid; Public Lands; Leases