Email Colin M. Stewart at cstewart@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
By COLIN M. STEWART
Tribune-Herald staff writer
Big Island representatives are helping to develop legislation to establish more control over Hawaii’s burgeoning zip line industry.
Their efforts, they say, were spurred in part as a reaction to the death last summer of a worker in Paukaa after a zip line platform there collapsed.
An investigation by the Hawaii Occupational Safety and Health Division has yet to reveal the cause of the collapse. But, said state Rep. Mark Nakashima, D-Kohala, Hamakua, Hilo, the time is ripe for legislation on the increasingly popular eco-tourism activity.
“They (zip lines) are good for our economy, but you want to make sure there are some controls on where and when they are built,” he said. “I’m told Hawaii has more zip lines than the rest of the nation combined, and more runs per line, because we can run them 365 days a year, whereas it is more of a seasonal thing on the mainland. …
“We need some mechanism for public input and control of this proliferation of all these zip lines.”
Currently, there are no state laws that directly address zip lines, with companies being left to self-regulate, Nakashima said. Building permits and inspections are required for the construction of the platforms, but once complete there is no mechanism for regular safety inspections.
One bill currently in the works would address that concern by pursing a licensing system to oversee zip line operators.
“We’ve been working with a zip line association during the interim (before the start of this year’s Legislative session) to craft the legislation,” Nakashima said. “They shared with us some model legislation they had come up with, and a version of that is what is represented in House Bill 2060.”
HB 2060 would establish standards and regulations for operators of zip lines and canopy tours, and would make those operators obtain annual inspections and permits from the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.
Among their other duties, operators would have to regularly train employees in accordance with standards; obtain and maintain general liability insurance of not less than $1 million for the injury or death of a person; preserve maintenance records; and obtain acknowledgment from their customers of their individual risks and duties as riders on the zip lines.
The bill is scheduled to be heard on Tuesday morning by the House Committee on Economic Revitalization and Business and the Committee on Tourism. But, Nakashima said, HB 2060 may end up being put on hold for a year, as state law requires a study to be completed before any new licensure legislation can be enacted on a particular industry.
Meanwhile, a second bill aimed at regulating ecotourism is scheduled for discussion today at 9 a.m. by the House Committee on Water, Land and Ocean Resources. House Bill 2812 would establish an ecotourism permit program with operators having to meet guidelines set by the Department of Land and Natural Resources prior to obtaining a business license, according to the bill’s text. It would also establish an environmental activities special fund to be administered by the DLNR.
While HB2060 puts more focus on zip line safety, HB2812 “looks more at the environmental impact of ecotourism activities,” Nakashima said.
Many residents who live near zip line courses have raised concerns about the cutting of trails and other impacts to agricultural and conservation land, he explained. In addition to Nakashima, the bill is being sponsored by state Reps. Jerry Chang, Cindy Evans, Faye Hanohano, Clift Tsuji and Bob Herkes.
Email Colin M. Stewart at cstewart@hawaiitribune-herald.com.