The Hawaii County Council passed on first reading a bill that would allow the county to claim more than $5 million from the state to reimburse police overtime costs incurred during the Thirty Meter Telescope protests in 2019.
The bill had been postponed since December, when the county rejected a $10 million reimbursement deal with the state because of that arrangement’s overly broad terms. Now amended, the bill seeks $5,342,262, the exact amount of police overtime accrued between July 15 and the end of December while enforcing the TMT protests on Daniel K. Inouye Highway. However, the issue is not yet completely settled.
Puna Councilman Matt Kaneali‘i-Kleinfelder said he remains concerned about language within the new memorandum of understanding between the county and state, cautioning against rushing into the deal just because it has been delayed for so long.
“We need to be very careful about entering into an agreement just because we need the money,” Kaneali‘i-Kleinfelder said.
While the bill was passed on first reading — which advances it to the next meeting for second and final reading — a corresponding resolution authorizing Mayor Harry Kim to enter into the agreement with the state was postponed.
South Kona/Ka‘u Councilwoman Maile David said the bill cannot be passed until the resolution is passed, but postponing the resolution might allow the issues with the memorandum to be resolved by the next meeting, when both the bill and resolution can be passed.