Gov. David Ige speaks during Thursday’s groundbreaking/blessing ceremony for the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands’ Kealahou program. When asked about revocable water permit bills that currently appear to be dead in the state Legislature, Ige said he supported giving permit holders more time, through extensions of the revocable permit process, with the ultimate goal of obtaining long-term water leases. The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo

WAIOHULI — Gov. David Ige is in favor of giving all revocable water permit holders more time to seek long-term leases from the state, rather than possibly leaving them dry at the end of the year.

When asked about his position on contentious House Bill 1326 that would extend the short-term lease process, the governor did not single out Alexander & Baldwin for permit exclusion as an amended version of the bill had proposed.

Ige made his comments Thursday in Waiohuli prior to the blessing/groundbreaking for a program where Maui inmates will build a home for a Native Hawaiian family in a Hawaiian Homes subdivision.

For 13 years, the state Department of Land and Natural Resources had been annually extending revocable water permits that allowed A&B to divert water from East Maui. In January 2016, 1st Circuit Judge Rhonda Nishimura invalidated the permits, which were meant to be temporary.

That same year, the state Legislature passed a measure — Act 126 — allowing holdover permits to continue for three years until the DLNR could create a process for long-term water leases. Act 126 ends this year.

HB 1326 aims to allow revocable water permits to be renewed while holders continue to seek long-term leases.

Native Hawaiians and environmentalists have mobilized to oppose the bill, calling it “water theft,” and urging the return of water to East Maui streams for taro cultivation, restoration of stream life and native practices.

The bill was amended in a Senate committee last week to exclude A&B’s permits but the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee chose to defer the measure, which appeared to kill it. However, Senate rules still allow for a version of the bill to be pulled out of committee to the Senate floor with the consent of nine senators.

There still is about a month before the state Legislature ends.

“I think the law is pretty clear and our agencies were testifying in support (of the original bill) because we know that not all permitees will be able to complete the process by the end of the year,” Ige said Thursday.

“We recognize that there is a lot of work to be done. People don’t realize that we have not ever issued water leases in the state,” he added.

The state is working diligently on a “brand new process,” Ige said, noting that some things take time.

When asked if he supported HB 1326, Ige replied that “obviously it has been amended several times.” He said more time is needed to establish the long-term lease process.

Ige said one of the things that has been lost in the battle over HB 1326 is that the state has “been very proactively” managing water resources. He pointed to the establishment of in-stream flow standards in East Maui by the state water commission.

In June, the commission issued a landmark decision to restore 17 East Maui streams to full or near-full capacity. The interim stream flow standards were set to protect area farming, cultural practices and habitat. It was a hard fought, nearly two decades long battle that pitted Native Hawaiian taro farmers and cultural practitioners against A&B, which had diverted the main flows of the streams for more than a century for its sugar cane operations.

“We think we acted in good faith, balancing the interests of the water users,” Ige said.

* Melissa Tanji can be reached at mtanji@mauinews.com.