Year 2000 at the Legislature

UPDATE: 4/23/01

In case you wanted to see the document that effectuated the "procedural" change, see: http://newhawaii.org/memoconfproc.pdf

NOTE:

#1: I think that underlying the controversy is the fact that this "procedural" change takes away power from the public, the community, the collective will of the voters. It's one thing for a chair to voluntarily give another chair the power to kill a bill (as they often do to keep on good terms with each other), but what Sen. Bunda and Rep. Say did was give conference committee chairs some power of the other senators (and the voters they represent) -- without their consent. This is important because voters give their power to legislators, and legislators give some power to House/Senate chairs by voting on rules. But in this case, Bunda and Say -- on their own -- gave chairs even more power without asking other legislators (they just took it).

#2: Another underlying dynamic on this issue is the fact that it took the Legislature 22 years to finally comply with the constitutional requirement that conference committees vote in public. In November 1999, Ed Case and myself asked the Speaker and President (Mizuguchi as that time) to have these committees take public votes; they declined and only after public outcry and law suit by the Republican Party, did they finally institute open public voting. Before that, because chairs didn't have to vote in public, they would wrangle behind closed doors and most often settle their differences in private -- to avoid political bloodshed (votes were cast thru signatures on committee reports). Now with public votes, it becomes more likely that a chair could be outvoted by others on the conference committee.

The Bunda/Say "procedural" change prevents that from happening.

LES IHARA JR.

 

AG: Legislative conference committees

must make decisions in open sessions

The attorney general office agrees that decisions or votes by conference committees must be done in the open.

The opinion by Deputy Attorney General Charleen M. Aina says legislative conference committees should "conduct their assigned tasks of fashioning the 'final form' of bills for passage at third reading at meetings open to the public, act only when a quorum of the conference committee's members are present, and make decisions on the bill that are referred to them for resolution only by voting during the open meeting."


A bill for a constitutional amendment, creating a right of access to government dies in committee

A measure sponsored by state Sen. Les Ihara Jr. to let voters decide whether to create a constitutional right to access of government has been shelved.

The bill made it out of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, but did not get a hearing in Senate Judiciary Committee.


Cayetano administration pulls back on bill that restricts access to records

     SPJ director Garett Kamemoto simply asked a question about a
Cayetano administration bill that shuts off access to some types of
records.

    Kamemoto said House Bill 2420 and companion Senate Bill 2761 are 
no longer supported by the Cayetano administration and the
governor has ordered the attorney general  to "withdraw" the measure.


    Kamemoto said that while the bill cannot be withdrawn, it will now
die quietly. The attorney general  is making it clear to all lawmakers the governor does not want the bill.

     The bill would have allowed documents to be withheld if the agency
being asked to produce them did not originate the document, he said.

     This came up in a Cabinet meeting. Department heads told the 
governor they don't believe there is a problem that needs to be 
addressed at this time, Kamemoto said.

     The attorney general had a concern that  cheapskate lawyers are
using a little loophole in the law to save money at the state's expense.
They are asking for copies of transcripts that normally cost $1.50 or
$2.50 a page from court reporters. But under the Sunshine Law, they
get it from the AG for copying costs. The AG charges something like 
five cents per page.

     House Bill 2420 does more than that; it cuts off some or all access
of the public to the following:

     -- Minutes of executive sessions.

     -- Loan programs

     -- Consultant contracts.

     -- Transcripts

     -- Pardons


Cyberterrorism bill on hold

     It appears that a bill making it a criminal offense to use personal 
information about a law enforcement officer on the Internet  to threaten, 
harass or annoy the officer is dead.

     Bills in House and Senate committees were moving, but failed to 
meet a legislative deadline.

    The measure make such a crime a Class B felony.

     House Bill 2132 is vague and could subject a lot of people to prosecution 
if an officer felt criticism about him or the department harassed or annoyed 
him or her.


OIP transfer bill on hold

Senate Bill 2353 transferring the Office of Information Practices from the executive branch to the legislative branch of government has been shelved by the Senate Judiciary Committee.