Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 29, Number 4, 1 April 2012 — Hawaiʻi Civil Defense still stuck in the 1950s [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Hawaiʻi Civil Defense still stuck in the 1950s

Trustee's note: Tlūs month's eoīumn is written by Ed Teixeira, former vice director ofState Civil Defense from 1999 through 2011, who now works as a private consultant.

The Hawai'i state Legislature recently missed an opportunity to bring Hawai'i's antiquated civil-defense system into the 21 st century. Senate Bill 2146, whieh proposed to establish a multiagency task force to recommend needed changes to Hawai'i Revised Statutes Chapters 127 and 128 was deferred on Valentine's Day by the Senate Committee on Puhlie Safety, Government Operations andMilitary Affairs chaired by Sen. Will Espero.

Deferment of that bill was disappointing because the framework of our civil-defense system, embodied in Chapters 127 and 128, is based on the Federal Civil Defense Act of 1950. These chapters, including Hawai'i Revised Statutes Chapter 26 Section

2 1 that places state Civil Defense under the Department of Defense and Adjutant General, were designed to defend the Territory against nuclear attack. We are the only state to maintain a civil-defense system based on a federal law that was amended, supplemented and finally repealed in 1994. After the Cold War ended, the focus moved from defense against total nuclear war to defense against terrorist attacks using ehemieal or biological weapons. At the nahonal level, the U.S. Civil Defense Agency was eventually replaced by FEMA. After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 1 1, 2001, the concept of civil defense and all-hazards emergency management eame under the umbrella of Homeland Security. During the years I served in state Civil Defense, we were advised by our state attorneys that these statutes should be maintained in their 1950 framework because these laws provide our governor with extraordinary powers during emergencies. We were cautioned that proposing a major overhaul of these statutes could possibly open a door to unwanted changes. Admittedly, in spite of their vintage, we took full advantage of these statutes during emergencies and disasters to protect lives and property and to hasten recovery. Like good soldiers, we kept a silent vigil

over our civil-defense statutes. As the years wore on there were many significant changes in federal laws and programs involving Civil Preparedness and Emergency Management,

whieh necessitated a review of our statutes. While the other 49 states including territories modernized their laws after the Cold War, we opted to maintain the status quo. Arevision of Chapters 127 and 128 is long overdue. The first nine of 1 1 sections of Chapter 127 dealing with disaster relief are indefinitely suspended. Chapter 128 has 32 sections, one of whieh gives the Director of Civil Defense (Adjutant

General, a Hawai'i Nahonal Guardsman) the power to remove county deputy directors of

civil defense, namely the county mayors. In the "duck and cover" years of the Cold War, there may have been need for a command relationship with loeal govemment requiring strict adherence to plans in order to save lives. It's ludicrous to think

the removal of a county mayor by a Hawai'i Nahonal Guardsman could ever have happened then or now. Among the reasonable bills being mired: I Senate Bill 2188 and House Bill 2797, whieh ' would have placed state Civil Defense

directly under the governor, where in my view, it should be; and House Bills 2237 and 2796, whieh would establish a task force to review Chapters 127 and 128. It's time to admit to our citizens that the civildefense system, whieh they must depend on for their safety, is still stuck in the '50s. We owe our good people the opportunity to review these statutes before the next major disaster exposes weaknesses we could have prevented. ■

Followus: /oha_hawaii | Fan us:G/officeofhawaiianaffairs | Watch us: YnufiTīrijj /user/OHAHawaii

-V LEO 'ELELE < > TRUSTEE MESSSAGES "

Rūbert K. Lindsey, Jr. Trustee, Hawai'i

Ed Teixeria