§225M-2  Office of planning, establishment;responsibilities.  (a)  There is established within the department ofbusiness, economic development, and tourism an office of planning.  The head ofthe office shall be known as the director of the office of planning, referredto in this chapter as director.  The director shall have: training in the fieldof urban or regional planning, public administration, or other related fields;experience in programs or services related to governmental planning; and experiencein a supervisory, consultative, or administrative capacity.  The director shallbe nominated by the governor and, by and with the advice and consent of thesenate, appointed by the governor without regard to chapter 76, and shall becompensated at a salary level set by the governor.  The director shall beincluded in any benefit program generally applicable to the officers andemployees of the State.  The director shall retain such staff as may benecessary for the purposes of this chapter, in conformity with chapter 76.  Thedirector shall report to the director of business, economic development, andtourism and shall not be required to report directly to any other principalexecutive department.

(b)  The office of planning shall gather,analyze, and provide information to the governor to assist in the overallanalysis and formulation of state policies and strategies to provide centraldirection and cohesion in the allocation of resources and effectuation of stateactivities and programs and effectively address current or emerging issues andopportunities.  More specifically, the office shall engage in the followingactivities:

(1)  State comprehensive planning and programcoordination.  Formulating and articulating comprehensive statewide goals,objectives, policies, and priorities, and coordinating their implementationthrough the statewide planning system established in part II of chapter 226;

(2)  Strategic planning.  Identifying and analyzingsignificant issues, problems, and opportunities confronting the State, andformulating strategies and alternative courses of action in response toidentified problems and opportunities by:

(A)  Providing in-depth policy research,analysis, and recommendations on existing or potential areas of critical stateconcern;

(B)  Examining and evaluating the effectivenessof state programs in implementing state policies and priorities;

(C)  Monitoring through surveys, environmentalscanning, and other techniques--current social, economic, and physicalconditions and trends; and

(D)  Developing, in collaboration with affectedpublic or private agencies and organizations, implementation plans andschedules and, where appropriate, assisting in the mobilization of resources tomeet identified needs;

(3)  Planning coordination and cooperation. Facilitating coordinated and cooperative planning and policy development andimplementation activities among state agencies and between the state, county,and federal governments, by:

(A)  Reviewing, assessing, and coordinating, asnecessary, major plans, programs, projects, and regulatory activities existingor proposed by state and county agencies;

(B)  Formulating mechanisms to simplify,streamline, or coordinate interagency development and regulatory processes; and

(C)  Recognizing the presence of federaldefense and security forces and agencies in the State as important stateconcerns;

(4)  Statewide planning and geographic informationsystem.  Collecting, integrating, analyzing, maintaining, and disseminatingvarious forms of data and information, including geospatial data andinformation, to further effective state planning, policy analysis anddevelopment, and delivery of government services by:

(A)  Collecting, assembling, organizing,evaluating, and classifying existing geospatial and non-geospatial data andperforming necessary basic research, conversions, and integration to provide acommon database for governmental planning and geospatial analyses by stateagencies;

(B)  Planning, coordinating, and maintaining acomprehensive, shared statewide planning and geographic information system andassociated geospatial database.  The office shall be the lead agencyresponsible for coordinating the maintenance of the multi-agency, statewideplanning and geographic information system and coordinating, collecting,integrating, and disseminating geospatial data sets that are used to support avariety of state agency applications and other spatial data analyses to enhancedecision making.  The office shall promote and encourage free and open datasharing among and between all government agencies.  To ensure the maintenanceof a comprehensive, accurate, up-to-date geospatial data resource that can bedrawn upon for decision making related to essential public policy issues suchas land use planning, resource management, homeland security, and the overallhealth, safety, and well-being of Hawaii's citizens, and to avoid redundantdata development efforts, state agencies shall provide to the shared systemeither their respective geospatial databases or, at a minimum, especially incases of secure or confidential data sets that cannot be shared or must berestricted, metadata describing existing geospatial data.  In cases whereagencies provide restricted data, the office of planning shall ensure thesecurity of that data; and

(C)  Maintaining a centralized depository ofstate and national planning references;

(5)  Land use planning.  Developing and presenting theposition of the State in all boundary change petitions and proceedings beforethe land use commission, assisting state agencies in the development andsubmittal of petitions for land use district boundary amendments, andconducting periodic reviews of the classification and districting of all landsin the State, as specified in chapter 205;

(6)  Coastal and ocean policy management.  Carryingout the lead agency responsibilities for the Hawaii coastal zone managementprogram, as specified in chapter 205A.  Also, developing and maintaining anocean and coastal resources information, planning, and management systemfurther developing and coordinating implementation of the ocean resourcesmanagement plan, and formulating ocean policies with respect to the exclusiveeconomic zone, coral reefs, and national marine sanctuaries;

(7)  Regional planning and studies.  Conducting plansand studies to determine:

(A)  The capability of various regions withinthe State to support projected increases in both resident populations andvisitors;

(B)  The potential physical, social, economic,and environmental impact on these regions resulting from increases in bothresident populations and visitors;

(C)  The maximum annual visitor carryingcapacity for the State by region, county, and island; and

(D)  The appropriate guidance and management ofselected regions and areas of statewide critical concern.

The studies in subparagraphs (A) to (C) shall beconducted at appropriate intervals, but not less than once every five years;and

(8)  Regional, national, and international planning. Participating in and ensuring that state plans, policies, and objectives areconsistent, to the extent practicable, with regional, national, andinternational planning efforts. [L 1987, c 336, pt of §1; am L 1988, c 352, §5;am L 1990, c 160, §3; am L 1996, c 299, §1; am L 2000, c 253, §150; am L Sp2005, c 12, §3; am L 2006, c 65, §2; am L Sp 2007, c 4, §3]