HONOLULU (AP) - After years of dealing with sweltering classrooms where classroom teachers spritzed their students with water to keep them cool, the Hawaii Legislature has approved $100 million to cool 1,000 classrooms throughout the state.
At the same time, lawmakers agreed to a goal for schools to produce as much renewable energy as they consume by the year 2035.
“It really just shows that the governor and the Legislature listen to the people,” said Rep. Matt LoPresti. “They heard loud and clear from the people of Ewa Beach saying, ’we need cooler schools for our kids.’”
The House and Senate passed dozens of bills Tuesday ahead of a legislative deadline as they raced through the final week of the 2016 legislative session.
The Hawaii Senate passed a bill to ban the sale of wildlife parts including elephant ivory, rhinoceros horn and shark parts, making exceptions for family heirlooms, Native Hawaiian cultural practices protected by the state Constitution and other circumstances. The bill was already passed by the House, so it now goes to Gov. David Ige.
“We’re really setting an example for the rest of the U.S. and potentially the world to follow, so we’re absolutely thrilled,” said Inga Gibson of the Humane Society of the United States.
On law enforcement, both chambers also agreed to give $500,000 to Honolulu police to test 500 untested rape kits by the end of the year.
The public would be allowed to record law enforcement officers under another bill introduced by Hawaii Sen. Gilbert Keith-Agaran, who said he introduced it after a publisher of a Maui newspaper was arrested when he allegedly filmed a traffic stop in 2012. Lawmakers also passed a bill to create an independent review board to investigate deaths involving police officers.
Incarcerated people in Hawaii who committed misdemeanors or petty misdemeanors could be released early to reduce prison overcrowding under a bill passed Tuesday.
The Legislature also passed a bill to force gun owners to immediately surrender firearms after undergoing an emergency hospitalization for mental health issues.
Both chambers passed a bill that would allow online brokers such as Airbnb to collect taxes on behalf of people advertising private rentals on the websites after a lengthy debate in the Senate over whether they should amend it to require online brokers to verify the legality of their listings.
“Airbnb does have fine print that tells their hosts you have to be in compliance with the law, but we know that’s not working,” said Sen. Laura Thielen. She again proposed a floor amendment targeting illegal campsites advertised on the websites, but the floor amendment failed, and the Senate passed the bill without it.
A bill to allow companies to continue diverting water from Maui streams will be sent to the governor after it passed the Hawaii Legislature. Dozens of supporters of water rights for local Maui farmers stood in the Senate gallery with fists raised in the air as lawmakers voted the bill, which would allow companies with pending permits to continue diverting water.
“When they divert the water, families suffer,” said Karen Murray, 60, of Honolulu.
On health care, lawmakers passed a bill Tuesday that would reduce opioid-related drug overdoses by encouraging the use of opioid antagonists. Another bill to allow psychologists to prescribe medication is in jeopardy after it passed the Senate but hit trouble in the House.
Suicide is one of the leading causes of death for Hawaii teenagers, and lawmakers are concerned about their access to mental health care. In response, lawmakers passed a bill to lower the age of consent from 18 to 14 to receive mental health services.
They also approved a bill to update a medical marijuana dispensary law passed last year.
With the upcoming closure of Hawaii’s last sugar plantation and a hotel on Maui, lawmakers also approved $850,000 to help hundreds of workers who will lose their jobs. The bill sets aside funds for training for workers who will be unemployed when Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Company and the Makena Beach and Golf Resort close.
The Legislature also approved a bill to give money to fight rapid ohia death, a deadly forest disease.
They also passed a bill to spend $4 million on hosting the World Conservation Congress at the Hawaii Convention Center in September.
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