The second revision prompted opponents of his initial emergency order to drop their legal challenge.

State and county boards involved with affordable housing projects covered by Gov. Josh Green’s emergency proclamation must comply again with the Sunshine Law, the Hawaii Office of Information Practices said Tuesday.

Green’s latest emergency proclamation has eliminated the suspension of certain laws that provide public transparency in government decisions.

It’s the second rewrite of his order that aims to address the state’s affordable housing crisis. The governor had previously revised the document, adopted in July, to roll back features that would have suspended state laws requiring public testimony, environmental review and historic preservation laws.

Gov. Josh Green addresses the media during a Hawaii State Department of Education press conference to announce a plan to reopen schools in West Maui on Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2023, at Kapalua Airport in Lahaina. The Army Corps of Engineers will be building a temporary replacement school for King Kamehameha III Elementary. (Kevin Fujii/Civil Beat/2023)
Gov. Josh Green revised his emergency housing proclamation again Tuesday, restoring Sunshine Law requirements. (Kevin Fujii/Civil Beat/2023)

Opponents of Green’s bid to accelerate home construction by suspending some of those key statutes withdrew their legal complaint against the plan Tuesday.

“We appreciate that the governor heard many of our core concerns and appears to have tried to address them in the revised proclamations,” Earthjustice attorney David Henkin, who represents some of the plaintiffs that had challenged the governor’s plan, said in a release.

“It remains deeply troubling, however, that the governor continues to claim the authority to suspend laws whenever he feels like it to address longstanding public policy issues, however important,” he said.

Henkin said the groups will take a “wait and see” approach, continuing to monitor the plan as it’s put into action. 

“If the governor tries to advance housing projects that are not in the public interest, we will be back in court,” he said in a statement.

The complaint had been brought by groups including the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii, the Sierra Club, Hawaii Advocates for Truly Affordable Housing and E Ola Kakou Hawaii, a Native Hawaiian organization. Joining the plaintiff groups is Kū’ikeokalani Kamakea-ʻŌhelo, a member of the Hawaii Land Use Commission.

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