By Kat Brady.

 

Having a difficult time putting into words the 2023 session. Each session has its own personality and after almost 3 decades, that is understood; yet the 2023 session felt very different. The fact that two legislators are in prison, and one is cooperating with the feds has colored the session in some ways. Yet despite all the bad news of state and county corruption that is keeping the feds busy, things went on this session that still floored me after all these years.

Here are a few high and low lights with data from the legislative website.

POLICYMAKING

One of the main roles of the legislative branch is to develop social policies that serve the PUBLIC interest – ALL OF THE PUBLIC. In a short 60-day session, it is confounding to me that we spend so much time on resolutions.

 

Proposed Legislation	Senate	House
Bills	1618	1514
Resolutions	223	225
Concurrent Resolutions	229	208

 

It seems to us that there needs to be more focus on policymaking and how, why, and where the legislature does it! Democracy dies in the dark. Inclusivity, equity, and accessibility are absolutely crucial to the development of good public policy and the furtherance of democracy.

CONFERENCE COMMITTEE

Conference Committee time is chaotic. Everything got pushed back because of the budget delay. In the past, the conference process has ranged from 5-7 days. This session things got off to a late start and with 455 bills that disagreed (241 House; 214 Senate) – these bills were headed for conference. This is why it was nerve-wracking time – a handful of days and hundreds of bills…many that were sacrificed because they ran out of time.

The final numbers aren`t out yet, but when I crunched the available numbers, it looked like around 173 bills that passed the legislature either didn`t pass conference or just were victims of the cattle call at 4:30 pm on the last day of conference.

The cattle call is something that hasnʻt happened in a while. It is a zoo with everyone packed into room 309 or at the screens in the hallways trying to follow their bills – and there were plenty of bills waiting. So many bills died – it was really sad and frustrating to know that so many bills passed their committees and died because of poor scheduling.

Some bills did not get referred to conference until the next to last day, leaving no time for the conferees to debate the issue. Our relief is that the bills that didn`t make it across the finish line are alive in the 2024 session. We`ll be back with renewed energy in January!

We need a legislature that thoughtfully deliberates bills.  The House Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs Committee is the one committee where the Chair and the members engage the public. Itʻs refreshing and also a way to learn about multiple issues.

FINAL READING

We were at both floor sessions on Tuesday and Thursday. This is the one of the first times we had bills go to the last day of session. And there were some surprises at last two session days!

Most interesting was the budget HB 300 HD1, SD1 CD1

The House Finance Committee Chair and Vice Chair are both new in these positions. The budget was delayed and that held up lots of things. Probably, the most frustrating was bills with no fiscal implications were sent to the Finance Committee  creating a backup for many bills to be “timed out.”

The budget worksheets should be out in the next week or so and we will see how various financial items fared.

There were several encouraging and powerful speeches in the House in opposition to the budget and the disappointment delivered by Rep. Amy Perruso and Rep. Jeanné Kapela. They spoke with passion and empathy for all the people of Hawai`i. After this difficult session, it was so heartening to hear from legislators who truly work to represent the people. There is hope and we have to continue promoting better policies that are truly equitable, accessible, and sensible. WE CAN DO THIS!

There was a land use bill HB 676 HD1 SD1 CD2 about district boundary amendments, county ordinances, and affordable housing where legislators from both chambers voted with reservations. This triggered floor amendments to the bill:

On Tuesday, the Senate offered Floor Amendment 10. Then on Thursday, Rep. Hashimoto (Maui) offered Floor Amendment 13. After all this, the Senate and House RECOMMITTED the bill to Conference, meaning that it is still in conference and can be voted on next session.

All the bills that didn`t make it are alive next session since this was the first year of the biennium (Hawai`i`s budget works on a 2-year cycle).

Next interesting thing was the Veto Override of Governor Green`s veto of SB 921 that was proposed by the Senate and followed by the House on this bill about condo boards, construction deficiencies, and developers who retain seats on the board.

The session did show that there are some legislators who do care about the people and actually think about developing public policies that work for all – so that`s a good start!

This is why it is important for advocates to nurture champions in the legislature who can speak in places where we are not invited! Luckily, this session showed us some folks who are willing to stand up for the people and good public policy as well as those who we need to educate.

Below are links to five articles from Civil Beat about the session. These show that this session was unique in many ways that surprised even long-time advocates and a former Senator.

Lawmakers End Session Amid Criticism Of The Budget And Use Of Surplus. Gov. Green was given the power to restore funding to the Hawaii Tourism Authority, but some Democrats decried budget cuts to public schools and the University of Hawaii. By Kevin Dayton & Ben Angarone.

It’s Hard Not To Be Disappointed In What Was Supposed To Be A Big Year For Government Reform. There was a lot of talk about making things better this session, and some sunshine bills were passed. But the big ones died in darkness. By The Sunshine Editorial Board, May 7, 2023.

The Sunshine Blog: Lawmakers Think They Did Well On Ethics And Accountability Reform This Session. Short takes, outtakes, observations and other stuff you should know about public information, government accountability and ethical leadership in Hawaii. By The Sunshine Editorial Board, May 7, 2023.

Russell Ruderman: This Year’s Legislature Was Much Worse Than Business As Usual. It deserves an “F” for failing to pass major ethics reforms that the public expected. By Russell Ruderman, May 8, 2023.

The Hawaii Legislature Is Broken. And the only way to fix it is for lawmakers to radically change the way they do business. If not, voters should act. By The Sunshine Editorial Board, May 10, 2023.

 

One of the gifts of tenacity is that we live to fight these battles another day – we continue the struggle! It seems that every day new research emerges supporting our positions on social issues. It takes a while for the legislature to catch up to the community as they are lobbied hard by the lock `em up gang whose stock in trade is punitive sentencing and scaring the community. This is sadly persuasive to those whose main agenda is reelection. In our view, this is an example of Lazy Justice.

Take a break. We did pretty well this session despite the drama… Mahalo. Mahalo. Mahalo for showing legislators how to respond to the people`s challenges.

YOUR VOICE IS CRUCIAL FOR REAL JUSTICE TO HAPPEN!