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“It will be a tough uphill battle to accomplish anything against the other Democratic members. Hopefully the general population has had enough of one party rule-making.”

The Senate voted 51-49 —with one Republican voting no, one Democratic voting yes —to send the nomination on to a likely final vote on Saturday.

Our columnist offers a Civics 101 lesson as voters consider amending the state’s governing document.

The Affordable Hawaii Coalition is airing two ads saying the proposal to raise certain property taxes for education is flawed.

“The most important issue facing us in Hawaii Kai is a series of losses of open space due to aggressive development or expiring Kamehameha Schools leases expiring.”

“The statewide school system needs to be decentralized so more decision-making authority rests in the school or school complexes.”

Environmental groups say the shipping industry wants to loosen regulations, which could make it harder to fight invasive species.

“Our waste water treatment plant is at a tipping point and must be updated. We also need to find an executable solution for the issues created by cesspools that are leaching toxins into the ocean and water table.”

“I would have lay person’s notes from each council meeting published to a website that is exclusively meant for public access.”

Statewide citizen initiatives aren’t authorized in Hawaii. But each of the four counties allow voters to place proposed laws directly on the ballot.