A measure privatizing or creating public-private partnerships to handle wastewater projects is Mayor Mitch Roth’s top priority for the 2022 legislative session that started Wednesday.
“Although there are many areas of interest, particularly around sustainability, we have identified our most significant area of need to be within our current wastewater system,” Roth said Tuesday in a statement. “The bill, which calls for public-private partnerships, will be a step in the right direction for us to address and correct these issues if passed.”
The county estimates it needs $1 billion to improve its existing sewer facilities and another $1 billion for cesspool conversion. But because there are only about 15,000 users of the county’s sewer service, the department isn’t receiving enough fees to fund such a conversion.
State Sen. Lorraine Inouye, a Democrat representing North Hawaii, last year sponsored SB 997, a privatization measure that didn’t make it through the committee process after union opposition. The county is working with the state to amend the measure in the hope it can be successful this year.
Other specific bill priorities supported by the administration are legislation surrounding abandoned vehicles and junkyards.
Other overall priorities, in conjunction with the island’s legislative delegation, include sustainability, affordable housing, health and safety programs, agriculture, infrastructure such as roads and bridges, diversification of economic development, tourism management and environmental issues such as climate change and invasive species.
The county is hoping to bolster infrastructure with federal funds passing through the state, as county priorities align closely with those in Gov. David Ige’s proposed budget, Steven Bader, an executive assistant for the mayor, told the County Council Government Operations, Relations and Economic Development Committee on Tuesday.
“We’re going to be monitoring very closely what dollars are in the governor’s budget related to infrastructure upgrades,” Bader said.
The wash of money, coupled with the fact that all legislative seats are open for election this year, should keep things interersting, he said.
“There’s going to be a lot of legislation being proposed for people to take care of their constituents,” Bader said. “I’m looking forward to a real active session this year.”
Bader said the administration would have firmer grasp on which bills they’d be tracking once the Jan. 26 bill introduction deadline passes. Roth, who’s in Washington D.C. attending the winter meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, did not address the council.
The council, meanwhile, on Wednesday passed a resolution setting these priorities for lobbying federal government: infrastructure funding for county capital improvement projects, direct county access to federal funds from the American Rescue Plan Act, Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and the pending Build Back Better Act and lobbying for infrastructure and service funding dedicated to tribal nations to benefit the Native Hawaiian community.
