State of Hawaii Takes a Stand on Big Island Surf School Permit Outrage

Jade Eckardt
·2 min read
8

Yesterday, we reported that surf school owners on Hawaii's Big Island were irate after one owner monopolized three of four permits issued by the state in a "bingo style" lottery last Friday.

Fifteen other hopefuls were left unable to legally operate out of Kona's Kahalu'u Beach Park, one of the island's few beaches considered safe for surf lessons.

Now, the state is defending its process.

Hawaii's Department of Land and Natural resources captioned the post above:

"STATE BOATING DIVISION FOLLOWED THE RULES IN AWARD OF KAHULU‘U SURF PERMITS"

The press release calls the lottery, "a step toward better management of large crowds of surfers and commercial instructors."

According to the DLNR, "The county had difficulty selecting four surf schools and asked the state to take over the process."

Eventually, the office decided that the "only option" for selecting surf school operators "under the rules, was to issue permits by lottery."

Originally, they "wanted to issue permits to companies with the longest standing and in order of seniority. House Bill 1090 was adopted, but the measure was vetoed by the Governor."

Fast forward to Friday:

"After randomly choosing four companies it turned out three of them are owned by the same person."

The state knew it could happen.

DOBOR Assistant Administrator Meghan Statts said, “We knew upfront there was the possibility a single firm, with distinct individual companies established under state statutes, could be awarded all four permits. Seventeen surf companies entered the lottery, and three permits did go to three distinct companies that happen to be owned by the same individual. Under the current rules and laws, as long as the companies were legally established there is nothing, we can do to avoid what seems unfair, especially to surf schools that were not selected during the lottery.”

"The state plans to introduce legislation again in 2024 to address the issue. The permits issued are conditional, based on permittees gaining land access permits from the county. The

These are one-year permits, so we encourage anyone who supports a rule change to contact their legislators,” Statts said.

Click here for the full press release.