Hawaii Night Sky Protection Strategy Statute

Hawaii Revised Statutes 201-8.5, the Night Sky Protection Strategy, requires that beginning July 1, 2014, all new and replacement outdoor lighting installed by state agencies emitting more than 3,000 lumens be fully shielded so all light projects below the horizontal plane of the fixture, and that the correlated color temperature be 4,000 Kelvin or less. The statute supports astronomy on Mauna Kea and Haleakala and protects native seabirds. While the statute binds state agencies directly, counties (notably Hawaii County and Maui County) have enacted parallel ordinances that go further and apply to private property.

Noncompliant state lighting must be replaced upon repair or scheduled replacement. The statute itself does not impose civil penalties on private parties; county ordinances impose separate fines for private violations.