Who will have final say over Mauna Kea decisions? State or stewardship authority?

On June 30, 2028, following a five-year transition period, the Mauna Kea Stewardship and Oversight Authority will assume responsibility from the University of Hawai‘i for the more than 11,000 acres atop the Big Island volcano of Mauna Kea that is sacred to many Native Hawaiians.

But will this authority have final say on management decisions, including conservation use permits?

The answer is no if Hawai‘i Island Sen. Lorraine Inouye gets her bill passed.

This week, Inouye reintroduced legislation, which she first tried to get passed last session, that gives the state Board of Land and Natural Resources the ultimate jurisdiction over the oversight and stewardship authority. Senate Bill 6 comes with a stipulation that the board must uphold its duty “to protect the traditional and customary rights of Native Hawaiians as articulated in the Hawaiʻi State Constitution.”

Permits, ranging from recreation to filming to research, including telescopes, are required for the conservation district on Mauna Kea. They currently are managed by the state and University of Hawai‘i’s Center for Mauna Kea Stewardship in Hilo.

During the transition period, the Department of Land and Natural Resources, under the direction of the Board of Land and Natural Resources, remains the principal agency to make final management decisions for Mauna Kea.

And during the transition period, the new authority does not have any oversight responsibilities. But members of the authority expect that will change when it takes over management of Mauna Kea from the University of Hawaiʻi.

Inouye thinks when the transition period ends, if things do not change, that there will be overlapping responsibilities related to natural resource management . She said her bill aims to clarify who has final say over specific responsibilities.

While it is not in the bill, Inouye thinks the best of couse of action is to have the authority disbanded, with management of the mountain continuing under the current system run by the state and the Center for Mauna Kea Management within the University of Hawai‘i.

Inouye said the Center for Mauna Kea Management has already changed to address mismanagement issues on the mountain from years ago.

“As far as I’m concerned, there was no problem” when the authority was created, Inouye said, citing that this action was a result of politics.

The Mauna Kea Stewardship and Oversight Authority intends to support opposing legislation, said John De Fries, executive director of the authority.

The authority’s legislation, according to De Fries, would reaffirm what was stated in Act 255, the law that created the 12-person authority with 11 voting members in 2022.

The 51-page law gives the oversight and stewardship authority the final say over management decisions of the land at the summit, De Fries said.

Inouye was one of the few lawmakers in opposition to the act.

At the authority’s first meeting earlier this month, board chair John Komeiji said of the proposed legislation: “This is going to be contentious because as I said, there is already legislation that was introduced that basically inserts the Board of Land and Natural Resources above us.”

During the meeting, Komeiji said it was his belief the 12-member authority was supposed to be an independent, final decision-making body as it related to usage of land on the sacred mountain on the Big Island.

“We should have the full authority,” Komeiji said.

Over the years, Mauna Kea has been a source of controversy with the clashing of Hawaiian culture and the pursuit of science. Native Hawaiians consider the more than 13,000-foot high mountain a sacred place and home to their gods. Scientists say the top of the mountain is one of the best places on Earth to study outer space. The proliferation of telescopes also has provided jobs and been good for the economy.

The state and University of Hawai‘i were responsible for its management for decades until high-profile protests and demonstrations in 2019 opposing the construction of the approximate $2 billion Thirty Meter Telescope had lawmakers looking into other ways to manage Mauna Kea.

The Thirty Meter Telescope, commonly referred to as TMT, is a new class of extremely large telescopes that allows astronomers to see deeper into space and observe cosmic objects with unprecedented sensitivity and detail.

The University of Hawaiʻi, which has managed the summit since 1968, has been scrutinized and criticized for its handling of the mountain through the years. This includes a 1998 state audit that described the institution’s efforts to protect natural resources as piecemeal.

“The university neglected historic preservation, and the cultural value of Mauna Kea was largely unrecognized,” the audit stated.

The authority was created following recommendations from the Mauna Kea Working Group formed by the House of Representatives.

The stewardship and oversight authority, made up of leaders from all sides, now is in its second year of the 5-year transition period, with the issue of the final say of management decisions yet to be ironed out.

The University of Hawai‘i currently holds the master lease and subleases to other organizations, which will continue until the lease’s expiration in 2033. After the master lease’s expiration, the authority will be able to grant new leases. 

Inouye’s bill also would clarify that the natural resource management enforcement and emergency response over Mauna Kea lands will be the responsibility of the Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.

If passed, the bill will take effect on July 1, 2026.

Dan Dennison, spokesman for the Department of Land and Natural Resources, said the department does not comment on pending legislation. But he did say the authority is administratively attached to the state agency and a member of their leadership team, Ryan Kanakaʻole, serves on the authority board.

The bill passed first reading on Wednesday in the Senate and was referred to Senate committees on Water and Land, Hawaiian Affairs and Judiciary. Hearing dates have not been set.