A state Senate committee Wednesday approved a bill aimed at giving Native Hawaiians more of a say in the management of Maunakea, after making sweeping changes to it.
The Senate Committee on Higher Education advanced House Bill 2024 with substantive amendments, ensuring that astronomy would have a future on the mauna and a seat on the proposed new overseeing authority.
HB 2024 calls for the transfer of Maunakea management authority from the University of Hawaiʻi to a new entity housed within UH Hilo. Daily operations would be overseen by the head of the UH Center for Maunakea Stewardship during a transition period.
State Sen. Donna Mercado Kim, chair of the committee, called the latest version of the bill a work in progress.
"Maunakea deserves and needs an oversight authority that is 100% dedicated to its mission," she said. "But after reviewing everything, I am not convinced that the current bill as drafted, in creating an authority from scratch to manage this many-faceted entity, will be able to achieve all that is envisioned without financially overburdening the taxpayers as well as addressing the needs of the University of Hawaiʻi’s astronomy program."
"But I'm convinced that we need to move forward systematic change and do so in a manner that does not further divide our state," she said.
The measure was prompted by what some say has been decades of mismanagement and a lack of community engagement by the University of Hawaiʻi, especially with the Native Hawaiian community.
HB 2024 now awaits a hearing before the Senate Ways and Means Committee.
