We had a meeting scheduled with Representative Corinne Ching's office, but for some reason, when we went to the office, we were not on the schedule. We will probably make arrangements to re-schedule that.
The effort to get a moratorium bill passed this session, to protect the "ceded" lands, requires more support from the community.
House Bill 1667 was passed out of the first committee. It now goes, "jointly, to the Water, Land, and Ocean Resources ("WLO") and Judiciary Committees, with WLO being the "lead" committee. What this means, is, the WLO committee has to choose to hear HB 1667 and that it's not up to the Judiciary Committee to hear it.
Upon discussing with the different law makers the need to hear House Bill 1667 in committee, we learned that:
- WLO only meets on Mondays and Fridays, (and it looks like their last meeting is 2/13)
- Committees must give a 48 hour notice for a bill to be heard,
- Bills that have a triple referral, such as HB 1667, need to leave the second committee by February 19, 2009 or the bill will die in committee
Because we don't have much time to act, this is very important information to know for several reasons:
- The next practical hearing for HB 1667 with the WLO is the week of February 15-21.
- BUT, February 16, a Monday on which WLO meets is a holiday, so WLO will not hear the bill on that day.
- The only possible day that week is Friday, February 13, 2009.
- For there to be a hearing on HB 1667 with WLO on February 13, HB 1667 has to be scheduled for the hearing no later than Wednesday, February 11, 2009.
When we spoke with Calvin Say he informed us that it was up to the committee chairs to decide whether or not they're going to hear specific bills in their hearings. When we spoke with Representatives Ken Ito and Sharon Har, (who, respectively are chair and vice-chair of WLO)they said it was up to House Leadership to determine which bills get heard. Representative Calvin Say is the House Leader.
So, at this point, what needs to happen is that we need supporters to call the following and urge them to support having HB 1667 heard in the WLO/JUDIARY committees.
We need people to call the following:
Calling 2-3 (or more) of these lawmakers and saying the following will be helpful:
"Representative __________________, because you're a part of House Leadership, I urge you to advocate to the rest of the House leadership and to the chairs and vice chairs of the Water, Land & Ocean Resources and the Judiciary Committees to schedule House Bill 1667 for a committee hearing on Friday, February 13, 2009."
Despite the confusion conveyed to us as to how things happen, we're confident in our understanding as to how things actually work. Calling these guys, listed above, will help us cover our bases. We need you to keep track of who you called, when you called them, and to confirm that you urged them to have House Bill 1667 scheduled for a hearing.
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