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An agency tasked with developing public lands that has raised concerns from environmentalists and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs is under attack by lawmakers this session.

A dozen bills have been introduced that aim to restrict the powers of the controversial Public Land Development Corporation, an agency that passed quietly into law last year. But it’s unlikely that anything will come of them because they have to go through Sen. Donovan Dela Cruz, chair of the Senate Committee on Water, Land and Housing, who created the corporation.

The senator has also introduced five bills of his own, most of which would expand the PLDC’s powers. This despite telling Civil Beat just before the session started that he wasn’t planning to sponsor any PLDC bills. Asked in January whether he expected any bills to be introduced this session that would amend the corporation, Dela Cruz said, “I don’t know, but I’m not introducing any.”

But he apparently was in the middle of drafting his own measures. That obfuscation raises concerns about Dela Cruz’s intentions when it comes to public perception and the transparency of public debate about the agency’s operations.

The PLDC is designed to fast-track development on state lands through public-private partnerships. It’s governed by an executive director and five-member board and has additional oversight from the Board of Land and Natural Resources, which must approve any land transfers to the corporation.

Dela Cruz has maintained that the PLDC has the potential to reinvigorate the urban landscape, shore up dilapidated parks and recreation areas and provide the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources with a healthy revenue stream by leasing its lands. The department, which has struggled with budget cuts, hopes that the money could help support its conservation mission and be filtered to such projects as protecting the state’s watersheds.

But the PLDC’s critics have expressed alarm about its broad powers.

“If you look at the law that passed, it’s so vague and so broad that the public has no input,” said Rep. Jessica Wooley, who is proposing a bill to restrict the PLDC’s powers. “I have a lot of concerns about what might happen.”

Dela Cruz continues to brush off efforts by other lawmakers to curb the corporation’s powers.

“I think change is a scary thing,” he said. “But sticking to the status quo is more frightening. We need to create more opportunities for housing, for economic development and create a committed revenue stream for DLNR.”

Lawmakers Push Back

Some of the more far-reaching bills aim to repeal the PLDC altogether or implement a sunset date. Others explicitly say that the corporation can’t sell ceded lands that are supposed to be held in trust for native Hawaiians, and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs is pushing to have two of its representatives join the board.

, who is that would allow lawmakers to reevaluate the PLDC in a couple of years to determine whether or not to abolish it, said that there was a fear that the corporation could be abused.¹

“After 30 plus years in the Legislature, you get a sense that this might be good for some, but not good for all,” Taniguchi said.

There is a companion bill in the House, but Taniguchi thinks it is unlikely his bill will be heard in the Senate given Dela Cruz’s position as committee chair.

seeks to immediately abolish the PLDC. The PLDC could open the floodgates to unprecedented development, “including a handful of rural community strongholds where native Hawaiian beliefs, values, traditions, and customs continue to be honored and practiced,” according to the measure.

Other bills would amend the corporation’s powers.

, and state explicitly that the corporation must respect the host culture when making decisions about land development and that it can’t sell ceded lands.

Language in the current law that allows the corporation to sell public lands negates a 2009 law that prohibits the state from selling ceded lands without a two-thirds vote by the Senate and House. The majority of public lands are considered ceded lands, according to DLNR.

That detail seemed to escape the attention of lawmakers when the PLDC measure passed last year. Wooley said that the bill wasn’t vetted properly and lawmakers and the governor approved it without the ceded land issue being raised.

But lawmakers might take more notice this session.

“I think selling ceded lands is going to be a very big battle at the Ledge,” said Rep. Tom Bower, who has raised concerns about the corporation.

Dela Cruz Pushes to Expand Powers

The PLDC got off to a slow start this year. The five-member board tripped over the Sunshine Law a couple of times and had to postpone two of its monthly meetings, prompting a scolding from Dela Cruz.

It took a few months for the board to find an executive director, the corporation’s sole employee, and rules governing the corporation are still being finalized.

But for critics, it’s not what the corporation has done, it’s what it could do. And legislation submitted by Dela Cruz, expanding the PLDC’s powers, is likely to further aggravate tensions.

Under Dela Cruz’s bills, the PLDC would have the power to condemn land, as well as oversee the exploration of geothermal development on state lands. The would be transferred to PLDC control, and development around the proposed Honolulu rail project would be fast-tracked. This is in addition to exemptions from county permitting and zoning regulations that are already written into the law.

Dela Cruz’s proposed legislation would also get rid of two long-standing state agencies that are tasked with community renewal and affordable housing development through public-private partnerships. Under , the functions of the and the , would be transferred to the PLDC.

Dela Cruz conceded that the legislation might have a tough time passing, but called it visionary.

“That’s a really progressive bill and I’m not sure if everyone is ready to go there,” he said.

“We have to look at things holistically — workforce housing, the workforce, infrastructure, financing tools for infrastructure.”

Anthony Ching, executive director of HCDA, said that he didn’t think it was a good idea, as the agencies had distinctly different missions and it created “more questions than you would be putting forward answers.”

It wasn’t immediately clear how the powers would mesh if there was a transfer, or how the PLDC, with only one employee and a $135,000 annual budget, would handle such an expanded mission.

Bower, who is sponsoring legislation that would limit the PLDC’s powers, said that such a move sounded premature.

“This organization is in its infancy,” he said. “If it develops a good track record, people would be more comfortable increasing its powers.”

PLDC Says Give It a Chance

PLDC board members have urged patience on the part of the public, arguing that the the corporation has the potential to provide significant public benefits.

Guy Kaulukukui, deputy director of DLNR and a board member of the corporation, said that he was hoping to see projects such as enhancing small boat harbor facilities and improving public cabins at Mauna Kea State Park and Hapuna Beach on the Big Island. He noted that he couldn’t speak for the full board which has yet to discuss potential projects.

DLNR would receive 85 percent of the revenue from the projects.

“The state just doesn’t have the funds to create these opportunities without the PLDC,” said Kaulukukui by email.

Lloyd Haraguchi, who has been the PLDC’s executive director for a couple of months, said the corporation would resist any attempts to curtail its powers this session. He stressed that it was just getting started and that to lessen its powers was “not going to work for us at this point in time.”

Despite the flurry of bills that have been proposed this session, Robert Harris, executive director of the Hawaii Sierra Club, who has kept track of the agency, said that he doubted there would be any movement this year to make changes to the PLDC.

“My suspicion is that it’s going to be a difficult year to pass amendments to the PLDC. Anything that is more restrictive has to go through the PLDC’s sponsor, Dela Cruz. And he is unlikely to move on those types of bills,” said Harris. “And I don’t think that there is any propensity to make it more powerful than it currently is.”