(a) In the event of a state of emergency declared by the governor pursuant to § 127A-14, the governor may exercise the following additional powers pertaining to emergency management during the emergency period:
County: means the city and county of Honolulu, and the counties of Hawaii, Kauai, and Maui; provided that the county of Maui shall include the county of Kalawao for the purposes of this chapter. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 127A-2
Critical infrastructure: means those systems, facilities, and assets, whether physical or virtual, so vital to a county, the State, or the nation that the incapacity or destruction of such systems, facilities, or assets would have a debilitating impact on national, state, or county security; economic security; public health or safety; or any combination of those matters. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 127A-2
Disaster: means any emergency, or imminent threat thereof, which results or may likely result in loss of life, property, or environment and requires, or may require, assistance from other counties, states, the federal government, or from private agencies. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 127A-2
Emergency: means any occurrence, or imminent threat thereof, which results or may likely result in substantial injury or harm to the population or substantial damage to or loss of property or substantial damage to or loss of the environment. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 127A-2
Emergency management: means a comprehensive integrated system at all levels of government, and also in the private sector, which develops and maintains an effective capability to prevent, prepare for, respond to, mitigate, and recover from emergencies or disasters. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 127A-2
Emergency period: means the dates covered by a proclamation issued by the governor declaring a state of emergency or by a mayor declaring a local state of emergency. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 127A-2
Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. Source: U.S. Courts
Evacuation: means the immediate and rapid movement of individuals and animals away from the threat or actual occurrence of any hazard, emergency, or disaster, and includes vertical evacuation, which is moving to a higher floor or higher ground in order to gain safety above the height of expected inundation by water as recommended by the county emergency management agency. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 127A-2
Facilities: except as otherwise provided in this chapter, includes any infrastructure, buildings and other structures, shelters, land, roads, highways, thoroughfares, walks, roadways, bridges, public rights of way, and any appurtenant facilities, structures, and materials. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 127A-2
Laws: includes ordinances, rules, regulations, and orders prescribed under federal, state, or county laws or ordinances and having the force and effect of law. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 127A-2
Local state of emergency: means the occurrence in any part of a county that requires efforts by the county government to save lives, and to protect property, environment, public health, welfare, or safety in the event of an emergency or disaster, or to reduce the threat of an emergency or disaster. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 127A-2
Materials: includes medicines, supplies, products, commodities, articles, equipment, machinery, and component parts. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 127A-2
Mutual assistance agreement: means an agreement to which two or more business entities are parties and under which a public utility, municipally owned utility, electric cooperative, natural gas special district, natural gas transmission pipeline, or joint agency owning, operating, or owning and operating infrastructure used for electric generation, electric or natural gas transmission, or electric or natural gas distribution in this State may request that an out-of-state utility perform work in this State in anticipation of a disaster or an emergency. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 127A-2
Necessary: means and refers to such means, measures, or other actions or determinations as are required to be taken in the opinion of the governor or governor's authorized representative or a mayor or the mayor's authorized representative. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 127A-2
State utility: means and refers to any public utility within the State under a franchise or charter granted by the State. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 127A-2
(1) Provide for and require the quarantine or segregation of persons who are affected with or believed to have been exposed to any infectious, communicable, or other disease that is, in the governor’s opinion, dangerous to the public health and safety, or persons who are the source of other contamination, in any case where, in the governor’s opinion, the existing laws are not adequate to assure the public health and safety; provide for the care and treatment of the persons; supplement the provisions of sections 325-32 to 325-38 concerning compulsory immunization programs; provide for the isolation or closing of property which is a source of contamination or is in a dangerous condition in any case where, in the governor’s opinion, the existing laws are not adequate to assure the public health and safety, and designate as public nuisances acts, practices, conduct, or conditions that are dangerous to the public health or safety or to property; authorize that public nuisances be summarily abated and, if need be, that the property be destroyed, by any police officer or authorized person, or provide for the cleansing or repair of property, and if the cleansing or repair is to be at the expense of the owner, the procedure therefor shall follow as nearly as may be the provisions of § 322-2, which shall be applicable; and further, authorize without the permission of the owners or occupants, entry on private premises for any such purposes;(2) Relieve hardships and inequities, or obstructions to the public health, safety, or welfare, found by the governor to exist in the laws and to result from the operation of federal programs or measures taken under this chapter, by suspending the laws, in whole or in part, or by alleviating the provisions of laws on such terms and conditions as the governor may impose, including licensing laws, quarantine laws, and laws relating to labels, grades, and standards;(3) Suspend any law that impedes or tends to impede or be detrimental to the expeditious and efficient execution of, or to conflict with, emergency functions, including laws which by this chapter specifically are made applicable to emergency personnel;(4) Suspend the provisions of any regulatory law prescribing the procedures for out-of-state utilities to conduct business in the State including any licensing laws applicable to out-of-state utilities or their respective employees, as well as any order, rule, or regulation of any state agency, if strict compliance with the provisions of any such law, order, rule, or regulation would in any way prevent, hinder, or delay necessary action of a state utility in coping with the emergency or disaster with assistance that may be provided under a mutual assistance agreement;(5) In the event of disaster or emergency beyond local control, or an event which, in the opinion of the governor, is such as to make state operational control necessary, or upon request of the local entity, assume direct operational control over all or any part of the emergency management functions within the affected area;(6) Shut off water mains, gas mains, electric power connections, or suspend other services, and, to the extent permitted by or under federal law, suspend electronic media transmission;(7) Direct and control the mandatory evacuation of the civilian population;(8) Exercise additional emergency functions to the extent necessary to prevent hoarding, waste, or destruction of materials, supplies, commodities, accommodations, facilities, and services, to effectuate equitable distribution thereof, or to establish priorities therein as the public welfare may require; to investigate; and notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, to regulate or prohibit, by means of licensing, rationing, or otherwise, the storage, transportation, use, possession, maintenance, furnishing, sale, or distribution thereof, and any business or any transaction related thereto;(9) Suspend § 8-1, relating to state holidays, except the last paragraph relating to holidays declared by the president, which shall remain unaffected, and in the event of the suspension, the governor may establish state holidays by proclamation;(10) Adjust the hours for voting to take into consideration the working hours of the voters during the emergency period, and suspend those provisions of § 11-131 that fix the hours for voting, and fix other hours by stating the same in the election proclamation or notice, as the case may be;(11) Assure the continuity of service by critical infrastructure facilities, both publicly and privately owned, by regulating or, if necessary to the continuation of the service thereof, by taking over and operating the same; and(12) Except as provided in section 134-7.2, whenever in the governor’s opinion, the laws of the State do not adequately provide for the common defense, public health, safety, and welfare, investigate, regulate, or prohibit the storage, transportation, use, possession, maintenance, furnishing, sale, or distribution of, as well as any transaction related to, explosives, firearms, and ammunition, inflammable materials and other objects, implements, substances, businesses, or services of a hazardous or dangerous character, or particularly capable of misuse, or obstructive of or tending to obstruct law enforcement, emergency management, or military operations, including intoxicating liquor and the liquor business; and authorize the seizure and forfeiture of any such objects, implements, or substances unlawfully possessed, as provided in this chapter.(b) In the event of a local state of emergency declared by the mayor pursuant to [section] 127A-14, the mayor may exercise the following additional powers pertaining to emergency management during the emergency period:
(1) Relieve hardships and inequities, or obstructions to the public health, safety, or welfare, found by the mayor to exist in the laws of the county and to result from the operation of federal programs or measures taken under this chapter, by suspending the county laws, in whole or in part, or by alleviating the provisions of county laws on such terms and conditions as the mayor may impose, including county licensing laws, and county laws relating to labels, grades, and standards;(2) Suspend any county law that impedes or tends to impede or be detrimental to the expeditious and efficient execution of, or to conflict with, emergency functions, including laws which by this chapter specifically are made applicable to emergency personnel;(3) Shut off water mains, gas mains, electric power connections, or suspend other services; and, to the extent permitted by or under federal law, suspend electronic media transmission;(4) Direct and control the mandatory evacuation of the civilian population; and(5) Exercise additional emergency functions, to the extent necessary to prevent hoarding, waste, or destruction of materials, supplies, commodities, accommodations, facilities, and services, to effectuate equitable distribution thereof, or to establish priorities therein as the public welfare may require; to investigate; and any other county law to the contrary notwithstanding, to regulate or prohibit, by means of licensing, rationing, or otherwise, the storage, transportation, use, possession, maintenance, furnishing, sale, or distribution thereof, and any business or any transaction related thereto.
