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University scientists ask Legislature to fund state climate center for sea‑level and hazard modeling
Summary
University of Hawaii researchers told the House Finance Committee that state funding is needed to sustain applied climate-science work that supports planning, infrastructure and adaptation policies as federal grants become uncertain.
Researchers from the University of Hawaii’s School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology urged the House Committee on Finance to finance a state center for climate-hazard modeling and sea-level science.
Chip Fletcher, interim dean at SOEST, said the team produces applied projections used by multiple state laws and planning processes and that the research is currently almost entirely funded by federal grants. “We are the only team in the state conducting this applied research,” Fletcher said, and described projects in Ko‘olaupoko and Wai‘anae Moku that collaborate with underserved communities.
Fletcher requested recurring state funding to support salaries for a proposed team — four PhD-level scientists, five master’s-level researchers, six graduate researchers and an administrator — and said the center would provide responsive, on-request analysis for state and county agencies. He estimated personnel costs plus university overhead would be roughly $1.84 million per year (excluding travel and supplies) and asked for perennial state funding rather than a one-time supplement.
Members asked whether the university had tried to include the center in the UH budget; Fletcher said the team came directly to the Legislature and planned to pursue university budget channels as well. Fletcher and witnesses warned that recent federal actions may halt or claw back federal research grants; he said a stop-work order on a major grant would jeopardize staff retention.
Department of Land and Natural Resources testified in support, saying DLNR relies on the center’s data and prefers locally controlled funding for the work. The committee advanced the bill with a recommendation to pass.
