State & Local Government

The Hawaii Climate Adaptation Initiative Act (Act 83) was signed into law in June 2014. Act 83 established an Interagency Climate Adaptation Committee (ICAC) to address the effects of climate change to protect the State’s economy, health, environment, and way of life. Climate change impact assessments were new to the agency and they needed a consultant to provide technical support, address questions from stakeholders, and facilitate meetings. Sobis helped provide the direction the State needed and a Sea Level Rise Vulnerability Assessment and Adaptation Report was finalized in 2018. Later, the data created for the report was released to the public using a mapping interface to help communicate the climate risk.

U.S. communities who want to receive FEMA grant funding for mitigation projects need to have a Hazard Mitigation Plan in place and it needs to be updated every five years. The CVPDC had let their plan expire and the process was of updating the document was dragging. The local jurisdictions covered under the Plan were anxious to submit grant applications and couldn’t until the Plan was finished. Sobis stepped in and wrapped up the Plan efficiently which allowed the jurisdictions to meet their grant deadlines.