The state governing body for Mauna Kea hopes to become authorized to extend leases for summit land by another decade.
The Mauna Kea Stewardship and Oversight Authority will fully take over management of the mountain from the University of Hawai‘i in 2028. Meanwhile, the master lease for those summit lands — which was awarded to UH in 1968 and covers more than 11,000 acres — is set to expire in 2033, along with those for individual observatories.
As time ticks away for the lengthy process of renewing the summit leases, other options may become available for MKSOA. One bill still alive in the state Legislature — House Bill 2593 — would authorize MKSOA to extend observatory leases or the master lease itself by 10 years before the transfer in 2028.
“It gives us one more tool if we need it,” said John De Fries, MKSOA executive director, to Aloha State Daily. “Ideally, we complete our management plan on schedule and we don’t need to use it.”
De Fries said MKSOA is continuing to develop a management plan for the mountain, which is scheduled to be completed in early 2027. That plan, however, will determine the future scope of human activity on the mountain, which is vital knowledge for figuring out how the leases should move forward.
Consequently, in case the management plan is delayed, De Fries said the bills allow for a stopgap to keep the leases active until the plan can be completed.
De Fries added that Act 255, the 2022 law that established the MKSOA, doesn’t allow for the authority to issue or renew Mauna Kea leases, hence the need for the bills. In fact, Act 255 specifically disallows this, stating that no new leases can be issued and no existing leases can be renewed until the transition period ends.
De Fries acknowledged that the prospect of lease extensions for the mountain will make many uneasy. He said MKSOA has conducted a series of public community workshops over the last month that have illustrated that people remain concerned about environmental impacts to the mountain and the continued ability for Hawaiian cultural practitioners to access Mauna Kea.
On the other hand, people with concerns about summit leases may find the latest version of HB 2593 at least more palatable than its initial form. Before being amended at a House committee hearing earlier this month, the bill would have unilaterally extended the master lease and all observatory leases by 10 years upon passage, without any further input by the MKSOA.
That initial draft of the bill received heavy opposition from cultural practitioners, who argued it ignored public input and any oversight by Native Hawaiian groups.
The state Attorney General’s office also suggested that the first draft of the bill could have been a violation of the state Constitution, which requires that only “general laws” — as opposed to “special laws” — can exercise legislative power over state lands. A letter by the Attorney General’s office noted that whether HB 2593 would be a general or special law was an open question, and recommended that the bill be changed to its current form to avoid that snag.
Nonetheless, a companion bill in the Senate, SB 3310, retains the language of HB2593’s first draft, although no progress on that bill has been made since its introduction.
The House bill passed second reading in the House on Feb. 12 but still has to pass two more committees in that chamber. No further hearings have been scheduled, however.
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