Senate Majority Caucus

By Hawaii State Senator Will Espero

The local newspapers have reported on Maui couples flying to California to get married now that same-sex marriage is legal there. Some constituents have called to ask whether Hawaii will recognize these California marriages when the couples return.

It’s a constitutional issue revolving around a provision referred to as the Full Faith and Credit Clause. The basic principle here is that one state should honor court judgments entered in another state, giving the same credit, validity, and effect to the judgment that it had in the issuing state. The same recognition, however, does not apply to laws (more…)

Bill’s Introducer Senator Gary L. Hooser Considers Groundbreaking Action “Vital”

Hawaii has become the first state in the nation to pass into law a requirement that all new homes built after January 1, 2010, be equipped with solar or other energy efficient hot water systems. Signed into law by Hawaii’s governor on June 26, the bill’s introducer, Senate Majority Leader Gary L. Hooser (D-Kaua’i, Ni’ihau) said, “Hawaii is almost totally dependent on imported oil for its energy needs and estimates show that, with this law, our oil consumption will be cut by 30,000 barrels during the first year and continues to decline exponentially thereafter.” (more…)

Yesterday, Governor Linda Lingle published a list of bills that she is considering for veto.

By law, she is required to notify the Legislature of her intent to veto by Monday, June 23, 2008. She has until Tuesday, July 8th to make a final decision. Even if the bill is on her “list,” the Governor may reconsider and allow the bill to become law with or without her signature.

Note to Members:  In anticipation of over-riding numerous veto’s of various Bills that are being considered by the Governor, all members are requested to please reserve this date and be present in the Senate Chambers at 10 a.m. on July 8, 2008.

By Hawaii State Senator Will Espero

A couple of years ago, TIME magazine noted that high gas prices would succeed where all other efforts failed in persuading Americans to conserve gas when driving. TIME was right. In the last several weeks, the morning commute to town has shortened dramatically, even without school breaks, as residents adopted other ways to save at the pump. Carpool, Vanpool, TheBoat, TheBus, bicycle, motorcycles and motor scooters, and moving closer to your job – these are all ways that people have switched to in the effort to survive the climbing prices of gas.

Of course, if the rail was already here, we’d also have that option. (more…)

If the numbers speak for itself, the paperless project appears have made a significant reduction in reducing paper usage.

According to data provided by the Senate Clerk’s Office and Data Systems, the Hawaii State Senate reduced paper usage by 60 percent.  Nearly 6.7 million less sheets of paper were printed or copied during the 2008 legislative session compared to 2007. The Senate used nearly 9.7 million pages during the 2007 legislative session compared to 3.1 million this past session. (more…)

By Hawaii State Senator Will Espero

(`Ewa Beach, `Ewa by Gentry, Ocean Pointe, `Ewa Villages, West Loch, Honouliuli, Lower Waipahu)

Here is a brief summary of some of the bills the Legislature approved. Continue Reading

The public crowded into Room 309 at the Capitol on Friday night to witness lawmakers’ decisions on the final 2008 legislation.

Because Friday was the final day for bills to be approved by conference committees, legislators negotiated well into the evening, as the clock below illustrates. The House and Senate will conduct separate final votes this week on the legislation that passed the conference committee voting.

 
Each bill that has survived until this point in the legislative session has been assigned its own set of conferees, or legislators from both the House and Senate. Conferees have been meeting throughout this week on each separate bill and have been in and out of the various meeting rooms at the Capitol to sit in on each bill that they were assigned to. 

The legislation must pass a separate vote by both the House and Senate to survive this final round of hearings.

Even though public testimony is limited at this stage, often there is only standing room at the conference committee hearings.

By Hawaii State Senator Will Espero

In a time when Aloha Airlines shut down, ATA announced its impending route closure, go! Airlines considered bankruptcy, and Delta and Northwest announced their merger, Hawaiian Airlines’ first venture into Asia marked a courageous and historic moment in the local airline industry. With the high volume of family visitations between Hawaii and the Philippines, flights to Manila are a natural choice for a destination in Asia. Kudos to Hawaiian Airlines for making this move to expand its territory to better serve Hawaii residents and visitors from abroad.

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U.S. Representative Neil Abercrombie spoke about chronic kidney disease today at the state Capitol. The disease is the ninth-leading cause of death in Hawai`i and is prevalent among Filipinos, Japanese, Hawaiians and other ethnic minorities.

The Senate recently honored BAE Systems in appreciation for its support and co-sponsorship of the FIRST Robotics regional competition. BAE Systems had also sponsored and mentored five of Hawai`i’s high school robotics teams, generously donating time to encourage the youth in the areas of science and technology and building their future as well as the future of the state.
 
Pictured above: Galen Ho, Michael Heffron of BAE Systems, and Sen. Norman Sakamoto.

Teams from 25 Hawai`i high schools competed in the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) competition in March. The teams built robots over a six-week period to solve a common problem with a standard set of rules and parts.

Sakamoto visited with Radford High School’s robotics team at the event. The team partnered with a Florida team to win first place and will advance to the national championship in Atlanta later this month.

Members of the Senate recognized the Small Business Administration’s 2008 award winners during session on April 2.

Last week the Senate passed its version of the state budget. Sen. Shan Tsutsui (Wailuku, Waihe`e, Kahului, Pa`ia) has detailed the proposed funding for Maui County in a press release that includes comments from the other two Maui County senators, Rosalyn Baker (South and West Maui) and J. Kalani English (East and Upcountry Maui, Moloka`i, Lana`i).

Sens. Inouye, Hooser, Tsutsui and Baker listened to testimony during a Ways and Means Committee hearing last month.

The Senate has released its version of the state budget for fiscal year 2009. The proposal, contained in House Bill 2500, passed a vote on the Senate floor 22-2 Tuesday morning.

The Ways and Means committee handles all of the financial measures that pass through the Senate and has been working for months to prepare the 353-page proposal. According to committee chair Rosalyn Baker, the Senate’s version of the budget takes a prudent approach and reduces the general fund appropriations requested by Gov. Linda Lingle in December by $32.4 million.

Hawai`i’s economy has suffered from the effects of inflation and high oil prices over the past year, reflected most recently by the closures of ATA and Aloha Airlines.

Baker noted in a floor speech Tuesday that the state also has nearly half-a-billion dollars less in general fund revenues this year than it had last year.

“This budget does not create false impressions and should not give rise to false expectations,” Baker said, adding that her committee had crafted a version that sustains investments in education, transportation and health infrastructure, which she said are vitally important to regaining fiscal growth.

Senators and represenatives will meet over the next few weeks in a conference committee to finalize a budget proposal that they will submit back to the governor before the end of session on May 1.

The Senate met in a lengthy session yesterday to prepare for second crossover.

Both chambers of the state legislature met in marathon sessions yesterday to deliberate and vote on each other’s legislation before the internal second crossover deadline Thursday.  

Since the two chambers exchanged legislation at first crossover last month, Senate committees have decided on House measures, and vice versa. 

The full Senate voted to pass 135 House bills yesterday, and the House passed 129 Senate bills. Those bills and all others that have previously passed a vote by both full houses are now eligible for decision making by a joint House-Senate conference committee.

Bills of interest passing yesterday included:

Education 

• Senate Bill 3252, which addresses the teacher shortage in the state through various initiatives and appropriates funds.
• Senate Bill 2878, which establishes an early learning system in the state, called Keiki First Steps, and creates the Early Learning Council to develop the system.
• House Bill 2770, which expands the Bridge to Hope program, enabling all heads of households who receive financial assistance and participate in the First to Work program to pursue education beyond the federal limit of one year of vocational education.

Health 

• Senate Bill 3015, which amends the Patients’ Bill of Rights and Responsibilities Act by prohibiting certain unfair and deceptive business practices by managed care plans.
• House Bill 2224, which requires group health insurance issuers to offer small group health plans to registered and licenced self-employed individuals who are located in the group issuer’s service areas.
• House Bill 2164, which increases the sources of revenue available to support the Cancer Research Center of Hawai`i.

Judicial and Public Safety Matters

• Senate Bill 3202, which proposes a constitutional amendment to change the mandatory retirement age from 70 to 80 for justices and judges appointed after Nov. 4, 2008.
• House Bill 2685, which directs two state departments to design construction and operation of a new minimum-security correctional facility with immediate access to courts, public transportation, drug rehabilitation centers and transitional or reintegration programs, and to plan for additional community-custody beds at O`ahu Community Correctional Center.
• House Bill 3040, which creates two new offenses for sexual predation of minors, expands existing offenses for such crimes and imposes mandatory sentences.

Transportation

• Senate Bill 2245, which makes leaving an unattended child in a motor vehicle a violation of the statewide traffic code.
• House Bill 3377, which requires installation of ignition interlock devices that prevent starting or operating motor vehicles on vehicles of those arrested for driving under the influence while the case is pending and license revoked.
• House Bill 2811, which requires weekly reporting of oil and gasoline prices by the oil industry to the public utilities commission and requires the commission to publish the reports and gas prices for each island weekly.

Sustainability

• Senate Bill 2842, which phases out and bans the use of certain lighting products that contain hazardous substances, establishes a statewide lighting efficiency standard and directs the Department of Health to develop a statewide recycling program for all fluorescent lamps.
• Senate Bill 2843, which requires manufacturers of electronic devices to collect and recycle devices and establishes the Electronic Device Recycling Fund.
• House Bill 2526, which enacts the Hawai`i 2050 Sustainability Plan, establishes a Sustainability Council to coordinate, implement, measure and evaluate the progress of the plan and its activities, and appropriates funds to the council.

The second crossover internal deadline is tomorrow, and thereafter legislators will meet in conference committees composed of both senators and representatives to negotiate details of legislation.