Hawaii lawmakers are trying to iron out key differences between the House and Senate versions of legislation to develop school lands so the state can generate revenue to fix ailing educational facilities.

If they can’t reach an agreement by the end of this week, it’ll kill the initiative this session and the state will have to wait until next year to try again.

Rep. Cindy Evans and Sen. Jill Tokuda are negotiating the differences between their respective bills, House Bill 865 and Senate Bill 237. Both agree in concept, but neither seems willing to budge on two main sticking points.

Tokuda wants the state to test the concept by allowing two projects that have to be done within the next five years. She said this will create a sense of urgency within the Department of Education and is a realistic number of projects to complete in that time frame.

Evans is pushing for a pilot program that allows up to five projects with no timeline. She said it’s a better sample size to demonstrate proof of concept and thinks the state would have a hard time doing even one project within five years.

They exchanged the latest versions of their bills Tuesday morning. Decision-making was deferred until 3 p.m. Thursday. 

Read past Civil Beat coverage of the school lands bills here.

— Nathan Eagle