Guides

How to be heard

Testimony, comment periods and deadlines, as the agencies print them.

Council and commission agendas print how to testify: in person, by video, or in writing before a stated deadline. Hawaiʻi County's Leeward Planning Commission, for example, asked for written testimony by 4:30 p.m. on the Monday before its Sept. 24, 2026 meeting. (Leeward Planning Commission agenda, Sept. 24, 2026)

On Oʻahu, written testimony for a neighborhood board is due at the Neighborhood Commission Office 48 hours before the meeting; after that, it can be given to the board at the meeting. (Neighborhood board agendas (the Neighborhood Commission Office's standard notice))

Environmental assessments carry a 30-day comment period from their first publication, and draft environmental impact statements 45 days; the deadline is printed with each project. (The Environmental Notice, glossary and project listings)

Each area page lists items open for comment with their deadlines. (The Ledger)

Guides are written by the Ledger for residents. Every paragraph names the record it comes from; where the Ledger has not read the governing law itself, the guide says what the record shows and links it. Found something wrong? Tell us; corrections go up the same day.