SB 2237: DLNR; State Agencies; Vegetation Management; Wildfire Hazard Maps; Community Fuels Reduction Project; Reports

A BILL FOR AN ACT

Relating to Fire Prevention.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

     SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that the frequency and severity of wildfires has increased drastically in the State in recent years.  The land area burned annually by wildfires has increased three-fold in the last twenty years.  Climate change is a significant contributing factor to rising wildfire risks.  Longer, more intense droughts create dry conditions in which vegetation, especially invasive plants, dries out and more easily ignites.

     The proliferation of non-native plants in the State also contributes to the rising impact of wildfires.  Invasive grass species such as guinea grass and buffelgrass grow pervasively on abandoned agricultural lands, constituting hazardous fuel loads and high fire risk.  Invasive species are often highly fire adaptive, quicker spreading, and more fire-prone than native plants.  Due to these conditions, wildfires in native ecosystems lead to a dangerous cycle of long-term conversion to more fire-prone landscapes as native vegetation burns and is replaced by its invasive competitors.

     The legislature further finds that most wildfires are caused by human activity and therefore preventable.  According to the Hawaii wildfire management organization, ninety-nine per cent of wildfires in the State are caused by people.  Human ignition sources include downed power lines, heat from vehicle exhaust systems, and errant sparks from machinery or campfires.

     The 2023 Maui wildfires highlighted these acute dangers, igniting due to human error in areas experiencing moderate to severe droughts and fueled by an overgrowth of invasive vegetation.  A post-fire analysis found that abandoned sugar and pineapple plantations had been overgrown by vast fields of non-native guinea grass.  This brush became fuel for the wildfires, supporting their destructive expansion.  Responsible, proactive land management would have effectively limited the scale of the wildfires.

     The legislature therefore recognizes that land management is a critical component of wildfire risk mitigation.  Land management is key to community safety because proactive efforts are essential to protecting lives, property, and natural resources from catastrophic wildfires.  The State's wildfire prevention and preparedness plans include various land management efforts, such as removing invasive species, maintaining defensible spaces, and supporting fuel reduction programs.  Private and public property owners are obligated to participate in these programs by their legal duty to care.  However, significant buildups of flammable vegetation in certain areas, including seasonal brush, signal lapses in implementation.

     The legislature therefore believes that land management efforts must expand to combat the rising threat wildfires pose to local communities due to climate change, the proliferation of invasive vegetation, and human activity.

     Accordingly, the purpose of this Act is to:

     (1)  Require each state agency to create and regularly update a wildfire hazard map;

     (2)  Specify that the community fuels reduction project shall require the clearing of flammable vegetation present on state lands for more than sixty days;

     (3)  Require the department of land and natural resources to clear certain flammable vegetation from high- and medium-risk wildfire areas; and

     (4)  Require reports.

     SECTION 2.  Chapter 132, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

     "§132-    Wildfire hazard maps; vegetation management; reports.  (a)  Each state agency shall create a wildfire hazard map to support vegetation management for fire prevention that identifies high-risk, medium-risk, and low-risk wildfire areas on all state lands under the agency's control and management.  Each state agency shall designate risk levels pursuant to the rules adopted by the department of land and natural resources.

     (b)  Each state agency shall update its wildfire hazard map at least once every two years.

     (c)  The department of land and natural resources shall adopt rules pursuant to chapter 91 to effectuate the purposes of this section, including to establish parameters for designating wildfire area risk levels according to the amount of flammable vegetation and combustible growth on the land, including seasonal brush, and pursuant to current fire safety standards.

     (d)  Each state agency shall submit a report of its initial wildfire hazard map created pursuant to subsection (a) to the legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the regular session of 2027.

     (e)  Each state agency shall submit a report of its wildfire hazard map following each update, to the legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the legislative session immediately following the completion of each update pursuant to subsection (b)."

     SECTION 3.  Act 303, Session Laws of Hawaii 2025, section 4, is amended by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:

     "(a)  The department of land and natural resources shall establish and implement a community fuels reduction project to reduce hazardous wildfire fuels on state lands, particularly on lands adjacent to communities.  Where feasible, the community fuels reduction project shall:

     (1)  Reduce hazardous wildfire fuels on the landscape, including flammable vegetation and combustible growth that has been present for more than sixty days, that threaten watersheds, communities, and critical public infrastructure such as powerlines and communication facilities;

     (2)  Create and maintain effective firebreaks along undeveloped state properties that border a developed parcel, including but not limited to schools and residential and commercial properties, by removing and clearing flammable vegetation and combustible growth that has been present for more than sixty days from areas within thirty feet of the developed parcel;

     (3)  Reduce flammable grasses on the landscape through projects like managed grazing; [and]

     (4)  Remove and clear flammable vegetation and combustible growth, including seasonal brush, that has been present for more than sixty days on high- and medium-risk wildfire areas identified pursuant to section 132-   ; and

    [(4)] (5)  Provide water infrastructure for grazing and fire suppression."

     SECTION 4.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken.  New statutory material is underscored.

     SECTION 5.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

Report Title:

DLNR; State Agencies; Vegetation Management; Wildfire Hazard Maps; Community Fuels Reduction Project; Reports

Description:

Requires each state agency to create and regularly update a wildfire hazard map.  Requires the Department of Land and Natural Resources to adopt rules.  Specifies that the Department of Land and Natural Resources shall clear brush present on state lands for more than sixty days through the Community Fuels Reduction Project.  Requires the Department of Land and Natural Resources to remove certain brush from high- and medium-risk wildfire areas on state lands.  Requires reports to the Legislature.

The summary description of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.