Hawaii Legislature Brings 47 Bills Back to Life
UPDATED Monday 4/30/2012 11:30 a.m.
In Lazarus-like fashion, the Hawaii Legislature on Sunday resurrected 47 measures that had failed to meet a Friday deadline.
They include bills to reform the state’s crowded criminal justice system, help seniors and the homeless, eradicate the coffee berry borer beetle, develop space tourism and stimulate international travel to the islands.
The measures will be voted on quickly and en masse at a Monday morning.
The 47 bills had technically died because legislators did not agree to them by a 6 p.m. deadline Friday. That’s because the House and Senate could not first agree on the .
That agreement finally came about 3 a.m. Saturday. And lawmakers said they recognized they had to give more time to important bills.
But they also set restrictions on what they would exempt. For example, the revived bills had to have already had general agreement among House and Senate conferees.
What’s not included is , the one granting some state and county projects exemptions from environmental review — Speaker Calvin Say‘s top priority. It was never heard during conference committee.
Also dead is a plan to extend the increased daily rental-car surcharge to help fund rental car facilities at Honolulu and Kahului airports but also direct some money into state coffers.
Nor did lawmakers agree to the governor’s plan for replenishing the state’s Hurricane Relief and Rainy Day reserve funds.
Another big measure, the which would put in place a framework to connect Oahu to neighbor islands to share electric power, did not pass by Friday’s deadline and was not on the list of revived bills. But the measure could still move if the Senate agrees to House amendments.
What remains? House and Senate floor votes on Tuesday and Thursday, the day the 2012 session is scheduled to adjourn.
Here is a list of measures that Civil Beat was tracking through conference committee week. For a complete list of the 47 bills revived by the Legislature, .
Bills That Were Revived
Justice Reinvestment Initiative on probation and parole.
Justice Reinvestment Initiative on defining how pretrial assessments are generated.
Giving $2 million to the Hawaii Tourism Authority to attract more international visitors.
Funding to eradicate the coffee berry borer.
Allowing for online voter registration.
Implementing task force recommendations for charter schools.
Issuing of special purpose revenue bonds so that Clearcom can set up broadband infrastructure throughout the state.
Establishing the Kupuna Program to care for the elderly.
Establishing the Hawaii Interagency Council on Homelessness under the Department of Human Services for administrative purposes.
Appropriating funds for a Hawaii spaceport license.
Transferring the Pacific International Space Center for Exploration Systems from the University of Hawaii to DBEDT’s Office of Aerospace Development.
Bills That Passed Deadline
Exempting task force members from the State Ethics Code.
Allowing vacation rentals on agricultural lands.
Granting environmental exemptions for secondary projects.
UPDATE
Establishing planning districts, creating an application process to apply for residential and commercial qualified projects, and establishing the transit-oriented or main-street redevelopment district program.1
Office of Information Practices plan for judicial review of Sunshine Law and open-records decisions.
Justice Reinvestment measure allowing for probation for some drug offenses.
Requiring off-island owners of vacation rentals to retain local contacts where units are located.
and Regarding employee’s retirement benefits and overtime, and spiking pensions.
Bill That Did Not Pass
Replenishing the Hawaii Hurricane Relief Fund.
Creating new state law on food sustainability to promote local produce.
Making tax credits and appropriations for digital media and film production.
Regarding renewable energy tax credits.
Establishing a regulatory framework for broadband expansion.
Extending daily surcharge on rental cars to pay for construction of new rental facilities.
Creating a searchable database for campaign spending disclosures.
Permitting high-rises on two Kakaako Makai parcels.
Paying to fly homeless people back to their homes.
Establishing a veterans’ court.
Allowing environmental exemptions for state and county projects.
Easing Taser training for DLNR officers.
Preventing unexpected increases in pension benefits. (See related measures SB 1269 and HB 2487 above.)
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About the Authors
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Chad Blair is the politics editor for Civil Beat. You can reach him by email at cblair@civilbeat.org or follow him on Twitter at .
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Nanea Kalani is a former Civil Beat staff member.