§279E-2  Establishment of MetropolitanPlanning Organization.  There is established in each county with apopulation in excess of 200,000 a metropolitan planning organization called theMetropolitan Planning Organization, abbreviated by the letters MPO.  The MPOshall be an advisory body responsible for carrying out a continuing,comprehensive, transportation planning process in cooperation with the Stateand the appropriate county in order to advise appropriate state, county, andfederal agencies regarding that process.

The MPO shall develop through continuingcooperative input from state and county planning agencies, the transportationplans and planning processes or policies enumerated herein and shall submitthose plans and planning processes together with any other advice ontransportation planning as may be required to the state legislature, the statedepartment of transportation, the state department of business, economicdevelopment, and tourism, the office of planning, the legislative body of the appropriatecounty, the transportation and planning agencies of the appropriate county, andappropriate federal agencies.

The MPO shall further assist and advise thestate legislature, the state depart­ment of transportation, the statedepartment of business, economic development, and tourism, the office of planning,the legislative body of the appropriate county and the transportation andplanning agencies of the appropriate county in carrying out comprehensivemetropolitan transportation planning embracing airports, bikeways, harbors,highways, transit and waterways within the appropriate county.  The MPO shallassist and advise such appropriate agencies in evaluating studies and programsrelated to transportation planning.  The MPO shall recognize that all of itsactivities shall be primarily advisory, and that the policymaking powers shallremain with the legislature or the legislative body of the appropriate county,whichever the case may be.  The MPO is to develop and recommend policies,priorities, and techniques relating to transportation planning, and shall bedirectly accountable to the legislature and the legislative body of the countyas an advisory body.

For administrative purposes only, each MPOshall be assigned in part to the department of transportation of the State of Hawaii and in part to the county.

Nothing in this law is intended to change thebasic jurisdiction for planning responsibilities already given to the state andcounty agencies in existing statutes and ordinances.  Those state and countyagencies are to cooperate with the MPO by providing input from their presentplanning processes and the MPO will advise those agencies by way of submittingto them the coordinated plan which it develops. [L 1975, c 180, §2; am L 1987,c 336, §6; am L 1990, c 293, §8; am L 1996, c 299, §3]