ACECH September 2025 President’s Message

Aloha ACECH Members,

Dedicated to enhancing the business climate and promoting the professional environment of engineers, surveyors and industry specialists.  So how does ACECH do that? 

This month I would like to recognize the work of our committees and agency partners in helping ACECH progress this mission. 

• ENV’s Division of Wastewater Engineering and Construction (WEC) Committee – We would like to thank WEC Division Chief Wes Yokoyama, Assistant Division Chief Kim Suzuki and all the government members of this committee. On April 22, 2025, ACECH held a General Membership Meeting on Standard of Care entitled “Navigating Expectations: Agency Standards and Engineering Accountability.” This committee, under the leadership of Garrett Leong, has continued to be engaged on this topic and ENV will be holding a follow-up presentation for ENV including their divisions of WEC, Wastewater Treatment & Disposal (WTD), Environmental Quality (EQ), Office of Administrative Support (OAS), Collection System Maintenance (CSM) as well as the City and County of Honolulu Department of Budget and Fiscal Services (BFS).  This presentation will again be presented by the Gerard P. Cavaluzzi, Esq. and Alicia Suzuki of Kennedy Jenks and will focus on the concept of Standard of Care.  We appreciate ENV’s engagement in this topic and their willingness to share this important concept.

• Hawai‘i County Committee – Earlier this month a Legislative Alert was emailed out to the membership in regard to Hawai‘i County Bill 64, which proposes to amend the County Charter to remove the requirement that the Director of Public Works be a licensed Professional Engineer.  Our understanding is that the intent is to broaden the applicant pool, making it easier to fill the position.  Hearings on this Bill were also held in 2019 to propose similar charter amendments, but industry spoke against it. ACECH opposed this revision and submitted written testimony.   The organization took this stance because the organization felt it was imperative to defend against the encroachment of other professionals from performing services that currently require an engineering license.  The bill received the required yes votes to move to the full County Council and ACECH is continue to monitor this measure.  

Mahalo to all our committee members and to our membership for staying engaged and working towards enhancing the business climate and promoting the professional environment of engineers, surveyors and industry specialists.  Hope to see everyone at our September General Membership Meeting!