LIHU‘E – Following a number of recent rescues on the island, the Kaua‘i County Council is working to pass a bill that aims to make it easier to charge people for the cost of being rescued, as well as establish a donation fund to assist with paying for the county’s search and rescue operations.
Bill 2910 was originally introduced by council members Addison Bulosan and Bill DeCosta on Oct. 18, 2023.
It was the main topic of discussion in the council’s committee meeting on Nov. 22, when all seven members of the Kaua‘i County Council voted in support of the bill during its first reading.
At the meeting, Council Chair Mel Rapozo said he hoped the bill would deter people from acting irresponsibly, noting it aimed to prevent drownings, dangerous hiking and people risking their lives by entering closed areas.
“This isn’t going to stop them because they think they’re indestructible, that they’re bulletproof,” said Rapozo, who “enthusiastically” supported the bill.
“But there should be a way for us to recover the expenses to send a message to others that if you’re going to do stupid things, it comes with a price.”
Bill 2910 does not actually change much about what is already written in the county code regarding the recovery of rescue expenses.
The bill states it seeks to amend rules surrounding the recovery of rescue expenses, as written in Chapter 6, Article 13 of the Kauai County Code to make the wording in line with state law, written in Chapter 137-2 of Hawai‘i Revised Statues, also known as the Search and Rescue Reimbursement Act.
The bill states the county may seek reimbursement from the person, or those responsible for the person, who uses search and rescue operations, which is currently already written in the Kaua‘i County Code.
The bill also notes reimbursement for search and rescue “shall be allowed only” if the search and rescue constitutes intentional disregard for safety, which includes “intentionally disregarding a warning or notice.”
Recoverable expenses are stated to include materials and supplies, employee compensation, equipment rentals or leases, repair costs for equipment damaged during the rescue, the payment for special technical experts or other special services not otherwise provided by the county, medical expenses incurred, legal expenses and fuel used during the rescue operation. This is also already currently written in the county code.
Both Bill 2910 and the current county code also state the Office of the County Attorney will determine whether to submit a claim for the recovery of search and rescue expenses. But Bill 2910 adds that their automatic involvement is limited to search and rescue expenses totaling $1,000 or more. The $1,000 minimum is an effort to make recovering the expenses outweigh the cost of pursuing reimbursement.
Bulosan said the county doesn’t usually seek reimbursement, but they have made a couple of unsuccessful attempts in the past. In an interview with The Garden Island, he said Bill 2910 “will help reinforce” their ability to seek reimbursement for search and rescues.
Donation account
Bill 2910 also aims to establish a “Search and Rescue Wildfire Response Donations Account,” where people would be able to voluntarily contribute to funding the county’s search and rescue efforts, as well as wildfire response.
Rapozo called the donation account “quite brilliant,” noting it was the main part of the bill.
“There are some people that may feel, ‘Well I’ll give 20 bucks. I’ll give 100 bucks (to the account).’ Maybe somebody’s a returning visitor that got rescued in the past. Maybe they’ll drop 1,000 bucks or 5,000 bucks,” he said.
The minor change in rules surrounding reimbursement for rescues made the code “more refined” and “a better product” for the county to be able to seek reimbursement, said Rapozo.
He appeared to refer to a recent incident on Nov. 12, when a 26-year-old visiting hiker was airlifted to the Princeville airport after reportedly falling 60 feet off Kalalau Trail.
Details surrounding the incident were not stated by the county, but she was said to have later declined medical treatment. Rapozo said declining medical treatment meant the woman “wasn’t really hurt” in the incident.
“And that stuff bothers me because our rescue people are at risk,” he said, adding he once saw a first responder almost die trying to rescue a man, who had tried to jump off Wailua Falls — a 200-foot waterfall that is closed to the public.
Rapozo wants people to be prosecuted and cited for entering areas that have been closed to the public.
He used Queen’s Bath as an example, which closed for the winter 2023-24 season in October for public safety reasons.
“If you cross a line that you’re not supposed to cross, or a fence or gate, and you put our rescues at risk, you should be cited or arrested,” he said.
Several rescues have occurred at Queen’s Bath in Princeville over the years, including a group of four visitors in December 2022 and a Florida woman in May 2022, who needed to be airlifted out of the closed area.
In the later interview with The Garden Island, Bulosan said he hoped the donation fund would reduce the amount of taxpayer dollars that go toward “trying to care for people who just disregard these spaces.”
Bulosan did not know how often people needed to be rescued and the amount of tax dollars that go toward rescue operations.
The Garden Island reported in February 2022 that the Kaua‘i Fire Department (KFD) had responded to 13 land rescues and its helicopter unit had been deployed nine times for response incidents just within the first 45 days of 2022.
In 2021, KFD responded to 125 land rescues, and its helicopter unit was deployed 63 times.
The Garden Island also previously reported that, in the fiscal year 2014-15, the county spent almost $20,000 on helicopter rescues, not including personnel costs.
Bulosan told The Garden Island the bill was written after hearing from community members who asked the county to implement policies that would hold those in need of rescue accountable for their actions.
“There’s not one particular incident. It’s just an accumulation,” Bulosan said.
Bulosan claimed to have seen TikTok videos of visitors to Kaua‘i promoting calling 911 and “saying that you have a broken ankle or sprained ankle … to get a free NaPali Coast helicopter ride.”
“That made me so mad,” said Bulosan of the video, hoping the bill would create a more accountable system.
Bill 2910 will head to a second reading, and potentially final reading on Dec. 6. If it passes, the bill will head to Mayor Derek S.K. Kawakami’s desk for consideration.
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Emma Grunwald, reporter, can be reached 808-652-0638 or egrunwald@thegardenisland.com.
