SENATE BILL 1085 passes

Senator Sam Slom was the only state lawmaker in the Judiciary and Government Operations (JGO) committee to vote NO on Senate Bill 1085 yesterday morning shortly before 10 am. The Committee chair, Brian Taniguchi and Vice-Chair, Dwight Takamine in addition to committee members Robert Bunda and Clarence Nishihara voted to pass SB 1085. Senator Mike Gabbard was not present for the vote.

When the vote was made, Senator Taniguchi noted that the bill would be passed with only technical amendments. We assume this means that non-substantive changes will be made.

The next step for Senate Bill 1085 is to be heard by the full senate. In a previous phone conversation with Senate President Colleen Hanabusa, it was suggested that SB 1085 will pass the Senate and be sent to the state House of Representatives.

Moments after the senate committee passed SB 1085, Kupu‘āina organizers met with the Speaker of the House of Representatives Calvin Say. Calvin Say suggested that SB 1085 will be scheduled for hearings with different committees. He did express concern however about the senate passing two different bills addressing the same issue. The House can not do likewise. The other bill being SB 1677. The House will need to pass just one of those bills.

Speaker Say said that he would like to see both SB 1677 and SB 1085 heard together in committee so that the House can determine which of those two bills it will support and proceed forward with.

Between the two bills, coalition organizers prefer to see SB 1085 pass out of the legislature. SB 1085, in the coalition's opinion, is more of a re-affirmation of the Hawai‘i Supreme Court's January 31, 2008 landmark decision in OHA v. HCDCH.

Coalition organizers hope SB 1085 will be heard on the Senate floor by Tuesday, March 10. We will keep you updated. PAU.

Meetings with Representatives Calvin Say, Sylvia Luke, Jon Riki Karamatsu, Pono Chong and Ken Ito

On Friday, Kupu‘āina organizers met with the following state lawmakers:

• Calvin Say
  
• Sylvia Luke
  
• Jon Riki Karamatsu
  
• Pono Chong
  
• Ken Ito and Sharon Har together.

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:

Representative Calvin Say at 586-6100
Representative Joseph Souki at 586-9444
Representative Michael Magaoay at 586-6380
Representative Marcus Oshiro at 586-6200
Representative Cindy Evans at 586-8510
Representative Pono Chong at 586-9490
Representative Lynn Finnegan at 586-9470
Representative Kymberly Marcos Pine at 586-9730
Representative Cynthia Thielen at 586-6480
Representative Corinne Ching at 586-9415
Representative Gene Ward at 586-6420.

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.