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Voters will go to the polls this November to decide if they want an appointed Hawaii State Board of Education to replace the current elected one. But the decision might be more difficult if they don’t know the process that would be used for selecting board members.

, which outlines the process for appointing education board members, is on a list of 39 bills Gov. Linda Lingle might veto by July 6. was issued to the Hawaii State Legislature and to the public on Monday.

The explanation for her potential veto reads as follows:
“Amends the Board of Education composition and member selection process in a manner that may not ensure the Board will be composed of members who reflect the best interests of the public and who understand the role of setting public education policies.”

Lingle has historically had a problem with the selection council format of appointing members of the University of Hawaii Board of Regents, which this process is modeled after, said Rep. Roy Takumi, who helped sponsor both and the bill outlining the appointment process.

“That’s her prerogative, but she’s also well aware that, if they vote in November for an appointed board, this could mean delaying what voters want,” Takumi said. “To me, that’s not a good thing.”

He said legislators had heard from community members who were concerned about making a virtually overnight shift from having full elective control over their education board members to giving that power to a single individual (e.g. the governor), and that was why lawmakers opted to add a vetting process to the appointments.

If the future Legislature and governor have a problem with the selection process, it can be changed relatively easily, he added.

“It’s going to be in the law, not in the constitution, so the Legislature could easily change that,” he said. “A new governor could come in and propose that we do away with it. Laws are meant to be implemented and amended, repealed and changed. It’s a breathing instrument here, not a static thing.”

If Lingle ends up vetoing the bill and the voters still decide in November that they want to eliminate the elected board in favor of an appointed one, “things would just be in limbo,” Takumi said. “Without this bill, there would be no underlying statute to implement that decision by the voters, so the status quo would remain,” he said. In other words, current elected members would keep their seats.

He outlined three possible scenarios after today’s news:

1. Lingle could let the bill go without her signature and it would still become law.
2. She could veto the bill and the Legislature could return and override the veto so it becomes law in the fall (pending voter passage of the ballot proposal for an appointed board in the first place).
3. Lingle vetoes the bill and lawmakers wait until the next legislative session beginning in January. Because the appointment process bill received wide approval this year, Takumi said it is possible lawmakers could fast-track it in January and put it on the new governor’s desk almost immediately. It could become law as early as within a week or 10 days of session opening. On a regular timetable, it could take months to become law.

“That would be the most expeditious manner of dealing with it,” Takumi said of the fast-tracking plan. “Whoever is in the Legislature would work with the new governor to figure out how they would like to appoint the board so that on the first day of session, a bill could be introduced that is ready to go.”

He has no doubt that the Legislature will succeed if it does come back to override Lingle’s veto.

Either way, the Legislature will do something, he said.

“I think it would be chaotic and wouldn’t serve the community well if we just let the veto stand and didn’t deal with it.”

The public is invited to comment on the potential vetoes by contacting Lingle’s office:

Email: governor.lingle@hawaii.gov or gov.policy@hawaii.gov

Fax: (808) 586-0006

Mail:
Office of the Governor
Hawaii State Capitol, Executive Chambers
Honolulu, Hawaii 96813

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