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A group of builders, environmental groups, lawyers and public agencies and institutions has been quietly meeting in private to help shape the first overhaul of Hawai'i's environmental laws in 40 years, even as lawmakers hold public hearings on a bill that is likely to go nowhere this session.

In public, many of the people affected by Senate Bill 2818 have testified against the details of the measure — while simultaneously meeting in private to find consensus that will lay the groundwork for new legislation, most likely in the next legislative session.

The members of the so-called "environmental review working group" formed in response to SB 2818 have signed confidentiality agreements, use a professional facilitator who helps guide their discussions and have since broken up into smaller subgroups that have their own meetings.

The Outdoor Circle is not part of the working group, so its director of environmental programs, Bob Loy, can only testify in public hearings in favor of SB 2818, with some reservations.

"Those of us who have invested a lot of time, energy and money into the process don't know what's going on," Loy said. "We're moving along with this open legislative process and we're reading rewrites and new drafts of bills and going into the next legislative committee to testify. At the same time, we know there's stuff going on in the backrooms that makes what's going on in the front rooms worthless."

The state Capitol has a long history of political opponents meeting privately to hammer out legislative language, then suggest new consensus language to key lawmakers that ends up as law.

And although the concept of working groups dates to at least 2006, the idea of formal meeting times, agendas and confidentiality agreements for the groups' members over issues of great public interest has raised eyebrows among people who regularly participate in public hearings.

However, the state Office of Information Practices that administers Hawai'i's open records law and the Uniform Information Practices Act said the concept of working groups complies with statutory requirements.

And proponents of working groups emphasize that the groups' recommendations are always ultimately heard in public and voted on by legislators.

They also say that working groups are the best vehicle to reach consensus on highly contentious issues such as Hawai'i's environmental review process, which has played a direct — or indirect — role in derailing high-profile projects such as the Hawaii Superferry and the $350 million Hokuli'a development on the Big Island, while fueling the Islands' reputation as a hostile place to do business.

SB 2818 is designed to streamline the Islands' environmental review process and make it more efficient and consistent.

But proponents and opponents argue over whether the bill would actually create a better process or make it more confusing — while failing to protect native species.