Senate Votes to Override 12 Vetoes
The Hawai‘i State Senate today voted to override 12 of Governor Linda Lingle’s vetoes, preserving bills passed in the last legislative session on such topics as pedestrian safety, the Child Safe Haven, and the Academy for Creative Media.
“We came back to ensure that these bills, which responded to the concerns we heard over and over again in the past session, became law,” said Senate President Colleen Hanabusa. “Every one of these laws is important to our community.”
“The legislature spends a great deal of time listening to the concerns of the people,” said Senate Majority Leader Gary Hooser. “We couldn’t just let these vital measures die just because the governor had a difference of opinion about our policy decisions. This is what we were elected to do: hear the voice of the people and enact laws that reflect the concerns of our community.”
“The Senate leadership looked at every veto and considered each one for an override,” continued Hanabusa. “Every bill deserves that attention. In the end, these were the twelve that moved to the top of our list.”
Hooser emphasizes that the overrides are not the end of the story for some measures. “The governor has very openly threatened to withhold funding for some of these new initiatives if we didn’t do things her way. In particular, she has said that she won’t release funds for pedestrian safety because she doesn’t like the funding mechanism we used. Now it is up to the public to remind the governor that these programs are critical to the health and safety of our residents. She needs to appreciate that the safety of the people is more important than her feelings of disappointment.”
The Senate overrode vetoes on:
• SB 932 (Comprehensive Offender Reentry System)
• SB 1066 (Invasive Species)
• SB 1191 (Pedestrian Safety)
• SB 1922 (Creative Media)
• HB 30 (International Trade Agreements)
• HB 310 (Technology)
• HB 718 (Kakaako)
• HB 1270 (State Planning)
• HB 1503 (Employment)
• HB 1605 (Traffic Control)
• HB 1764 (Revenue Bonds for HHSC)
• HB 1830 (Child Protection – Safe Haven)