RE: Senate Bill 1007 relating to public land liability First of all, everyone who took even a single moment to sign a petition, or write an email, call, or visit any legislators (or even who took a moment to think about the issues that weve been fighting for and why they might be important for you to educate yourselves about), you have the humble gratitude of those of us who were leading the charge. It hasnt been easy trying to inform, motivate, and organize the massive network of Hawaiis outdoor enthusiasts; but together we have attracted more attention, and garnered more respect, at the Capitol than any previous efforts relating to public land access. We have also earned the deepest respect of Attorney General David Louie, DLNR chair William Aila, and Head of State Parks Curt Cottrell who are all committed to working with us to find a resolution to the ongoing climbing issues AND ensuring that similar treatment will not occur in the future Yesterday, to quote one of my fellow advocates, we had a spirit-crushing and mind-numbingly anguishing experience at the Capitol. We arrived there at 8am and spent the morning reaching out to everyone involved with SB1007. Through persistent diplomacy, we secured majority votes from the conferees in the House - and unanimous support from the Senate conferees. As far as getting the bill scheduled though, things were not going well. Two of the House conferees had yet to sign the hearing notice (to schedule a hearing, the signature of each committee chair is required - in our case there were 8 chairs). Fortunately, the offices of Senator Solomon and Senator Hee put in a ton of work to make it happen. Additionally, Speaker Souki signed the hearing notice in place of Representative Nishimoto (no word on precisely why this was done - could simply be that they couldnt find Rep Nishimoto and had a deadline approaching). I stayed behind at the Capitol, arranging one last final document to hand out to all the conferees so they would understand exactly what the issue was and how to proceed. While I was working in the Public Access Room (a fantastic resource for anyone wanting to learn how the legislature works) I received word that something fishy had just been posted to the SB1007 measure status. I only wish to prevent the FACTS as to what happened next, but will offer some interpretation afterwards. The House discharged its conferees; this means they removed everyone from their side of the conference, preventing any further dialogue. The only way that this could be done is by Speaker Souki. My OPINION as to the what happened, and why, is this: 1)Speaker Souki signed the hearing notice (possibly without any attention to which bill he was signing) under pressure to make a deadline because all the other conferees had signed the notice. 2)Representative Nishimoto or Representative Luke found out that this had happened and told the Speaker that they were not willing to discuss the bill in conference (Rep Nishimoto was appointed to the conference as a delegate from Lukes Finance committee) and told him to pull the House conferees. 3)Speaker Souki pulled the House conferees in order to force the Senate to either accept the House position on the bill (HD2), or to let the entire bill die. Up until the end of the legislative session (May 1), the Senate has the ability to reconsider the House draft (HD2) and accept it as it is. The decision to do so lies with Senator Solomon and Senate President Kim. They would have to file a motion to reconsider SB1007 and then take a floor vote to accept HD2 and make Act 82 permanent. I strongly believe that they will take this course of action, but no outcome would shock me. I know youre all frustrated, disheartened, and thoroughly disillusioned by the reality of the political process; we are too. We are still discussing options for how to proceed and how best to express our collective displeasure, but, importantly, how to do so in a manner that is conducive to our goal of protecting public land access. If you would like to stay involved, please remain patient. In the mean time, reach out to your legislators - ask them what happened and tell them how upset you are. Mahalo for all your support
Posted on: Fri, 25 Apr 2014 21:26:45 +0000
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