THE SENATE	S.R. NO.	175
THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2026
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE RESOLUTION

 

 

Urging state agencies that own or control land in west maui to IMPLEMENT AND ENFORCE AGGRESSIVE VEGETATION MANAGEMENT, FUEL REDUCTION, DEFENSIBLE SPACE, AND EMERGENCY ACCESS MEASURES TO REDUCE WILDFIRE RISK TO LAHAINA AND SURROUNDING COMMUNITIES.

 

 

     WHEREAS, Act 302, Session Laws of Hawaii 2025 (Act 302), established the Office of the State Fire Marshal within the Department of Law Enforcement for administrative purposes and charged the Office with reviewing and assessing the fire risk of the State, coordinating fire protection efforts among local agencies, and conducting inspections of state buildings and facilities to ensure fire safety compliance; and

 

     WHEREAS, Act 302 allowed the Office of the State Fire Marshal to oversee development of a statewide wildfire hazard map and to facilitate vegetation management, defensible space, and other fuel modification activities through a community risk reduction program; and

 

     WHEREAS, Act 302 further required the Office of the State Fire Marshal to submit a biennial report to the Legislature regarding community risk reduction and the establishment, administration, and enforcement of defensible space requirements, thereby reflecting a clear statewide policy that wildfire-risk reduction on public lands is an ongoing government responsibility and not a discretionary afterthought; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Legislature has continued to consider additional vegetation-management measures to reduce wildfire risk, including proposals to require owners and persons in control of hazardous fire-area property to maintain effective firebreaks and clear flammable vegetation, to establish a community fuels reduction project on state lands adjacent to communities, to require trimming of hazardous vegetation near utility corridors and public rights-of-way by public and private property owners, and to treat hazardous vegetation as a public nuisance subject to abatement; and

 

     WHEREAS, reports on the Lahaina wildfire and its aftermath documented that state-owned lands formed part of the larger, unmanaged, fire-prone grassland landscape around Lahaina and that West Maui remained at high wildfire risk because invasive grasses lacked active management, placing the State on clear notice that similar conditions can again serve as a conduit for the spread of fire into developed areas if hazardous fuels are not systematically reduced; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation controls substantial lands in the Lahaina area, including the Villages of Leialii, which are situated on approximately 1,128 acres of state-owned land mauka of the Lahaina Civic Center, and the State previously leased approximately twenty acres adjacent to the Lahaina Civic Center from the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation for public use and expansion of civic facilities; and

 

     WHEREAS, temporary housing areas for wildfire survivors were developed on approximately fifty-seven acres mauka of the Lahaina Civic Center, and reporting on the temporary housing areas emphasized both the presence of brush conditions before development and the critical role of an emergency evacuation route in allowing escape from Lahaina during the 2023 Maui wildfires; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands has direct interests in West Maui, including the Leialii Hawaiian homestead community located just minutes west of Lahaina, and the possible transfer of hundreds of additional acres within the Villages of Leialii project further demonstrates the Department’s substantial and growing land-management responsibility in this fire-prone corridor; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Department of Education likewise controls and operates critical school lands and facilities in Lahaina, and the State found it necessary after the 2023 Maui wildfires to construct a 2.5-mile emergency evacuation route from the Lahainaluna fire lane to the Lahaina Bypass, with additional access improvements, before Lahaina schools could safely reopen, confirming the severe ingress and egress constraints affecting this area; and

 

     WHEREAS, community concern remains acute regarding rampant vegetation growth on large parcels near homes, schools, evacuation corridors, and temporary housing areas for wildfire survivors, and public reporting one and two years after the Lahaina disaster continued to describe broad stretches of unmanaged flammable grass on Maui and to emphasize that large property owners need to do more to reduce fuel loads; and

 

     WHEREAS, the winter of 2025 into 2026 brought repeated periods of heavy rain, flood watches, and saturated ground conditions in the County of Maui, and while the storms reduced immediate dryness in some areas, it is a reasonable inference that repeated winter rain events have accelerated vegetative growth that may cure into additional wildfire fuel as conditions dry later in the year; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Thirty-third Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2026, that state agencies owning or controlling land in West Maui, including the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation, Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, Department of Accounting and General Services, Department of Land and Natural Resources, and any other applicable state agencies, are urged to immediately identify, prioritize, and abate hazardous vegetation, invasive grasses, and other combustible growth on lands in or adjacent to Lahaina and nearby West Maui communities for the purpose of reducing the risk of wildfires; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that applicable state agencies are urged to establish and maintain defensible space, fuel breaks, and other appropriate fuel-modification measures on state-owned or -controlled lands bordering residential communities, schools, temporary housing areas for wildfire survivors, major evacuation corridors, and other occupied or vulnerable areas in West Maui; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that applicable state agencies are urged to inspect and maintain all existing emergency access roads, fire lanes, gates, and potential secondary ingress and egress routes serving or affecting state-owned or -controlled lands in West Maui, and where any existing routes are incomplete or inadequate, to work with the Office of the State Fire Marshal, Department of Transportation, Maui Emergency Management Agency, and County of Maui to accelerate additional emergency-access improvements; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Office of the State Fire Marshal is urged to use its authority to inspect state buildings and facilities, assess fire risk, coordinate fire protection efforts, and support community risk reduction to assist in evaluating state-owned or -controlled lands in West Maui and in recommending site-specific corrective actions, including vegetation management, defensible space, and emergency access improvements; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation, Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, and Department of Education are urged to give immediate priority to parcels in and around the Lahaina Civic Center, Leialii, Lahainaluna, Princess Nahienaena Elementary, Lahaina Intermediate School, and other state-associated facilities or lands where hazardous vegetation and constrained evacuation routes could endanger residents, students, staff, or wildfire survivors; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Land and Natural Resources, Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, Department of Accounting and General Services, Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation, and any other applicable state agencies are requested to submit a report of their efforts to the Legislature no later than December 31, 2026; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Governor, Adjutant General, Chairperson of the Board of Land and Natural Resources, Chairperson of the Hawaiian Homes Commission, Superintendent of Education, Director of Transportation, Executive Director of the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation, Administrator of the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency, and State Fire Marshal.

 

 

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