Gov. Josh Green signed an emergency proclamation on Monday, creating a working group to expedite housing and infrastructure developments by bypassing some specific permit and environmental reviews.
The group aims to bring about 50,000 new homes in the next five years.
Nani Medeiros is the state's chief housing officer. She said the order is not a broad suspension of regulations, but rather a careful removal of barriers to building.
"We talked with environmental groups, we talked with Native Hawaiian cultural experts, got a lot of feedback, and decided to take the approach of taking a scalpel to the statute and administrative rules where we could, rather than just completely wiping out certain processes," Medeiros said.
Some have expressed apprehension about the amount of power delegated to the chief housing officer under the proclamation.
Medeiros said that "there's one provision in the emergency proclamation that gives the lead housing officer the ability to determine if a state or county project could proceed without certification from the working group."
"And this specific language is 'may,' it's not 'shall,'" she added.
Still, critics are worried about the suspension of state Sunshine Laws, which govern the way state and county boards conduct official business.
They also raised concerns that the proclamation could compromise cultural and environmental protections, as well as height and density restrictions for buildings.
With regard to Sunshine Laws, Medeiros said, "From our perspective, Chapter 92 is suspended to actually help allow agencies, boards and commissions to meet more often."
When it comes to projects that may be unpopular, such as high rises, Medeiros believes people shouldn't worry.
"We've built in guardrails and safeguards to ensure that there [are] multiple opportunities for public opinion," she told The Conversation.
The working group created by the proclamation is set to begin work next month.
This interview aired on The Conversation on July 19, 2023. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1.
