Diary

Making Law

by M.K. | Jan 25, 2012

“For this session, we must focus our efforts on maintaining economic recovery and promoting immediate job growth,” said Speaker of the House, Rep. Calvin Say in his opening remarks as Hawaii state legislators convened on Jan. 18.

There was no celebratory entertainment or fanfare as in past years; there was no major rallying of the public. No, this opening day was just about legislators getting down to business…or just easing into it (that eight month break did kind of fly by). This may seem like sound policy right out of the gate–skip the show, get right to work–but Hawaii state senators had no choice but to listen as the lone Republican among them, minority leader Sen. Sam Slom made his remarks to those in the Senate chambers…and kind of made a good point.

“We acknowledge the majority’s unilateral decision to once again suspend our tradition of making Hawaii’s legislative opening something special, colorful and unique,” said Slom. “But we respectfully disagree. We believe that the citizens have a direct role in their government and own this Capitol, and we think that this action diminishes their participation. We hope that they’ll have an opportunity–more, during the session–to get directly involved.”

And get involved we should. One way we can do this is to make use of the Public Access Room (PAR) at the State Capitol, room 401. PAR provides the facilities, services and equipment necessary for anyone to participate in the legislative process. Citizens are welcome to make use of the room to research and track pending legislation.

–

Assistance is available in person, by phone at 587-0478 or by email to [email: par]

COMMENTS

We often print online comments in our “Letters to the Editor” section of Honolulu Weekly. While submitted letters are often edited for length and clarity, online comments we use are printed entirely as they are written for the website. If you do not wish for your comment to be used in Honolulu Weekly print issues, please write “Don’t Print” at the end of your comment. For questions, e-mail editorial@honoluluweekly.com. Thank you!

blog comments powered by Disqus

This week

Generation Next: Food Growers

There’s a quiet revolution happening in the dirt, being waged with shovels, patience and purpose. It’s a rebellion against a broken and destructive industrial agriculture system, a reconnection to community and long-term productivity.

Moving Ag Forward

As Hawaii struggles to feed and fuel itself, agricultural lands are becoming increasingly critical. In 2008, the legislature passed a law requiring each county to identify and preserve its choicest farm lands.

Bag Ban

A recently introduced bill in the state Senate would require businesses in Hawaii to impose a 10 cent fee for single-use bags provided to customers upon checkout. The bill, SB2511, was heard last Thursday, Feb.

Grid Reform

In order for Hawaii to reach the Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) of 40 percent renewable energy by 2030, big changes must be made. A number of bills proposed this year seek to knock Hawaii Electric Industries (HEI) off of its energy monopolizing pedestal.

No Yellow!

Year after year, residents of Honolulu–and cities all over the world–open up their doors to find an unsought pile of wood pulp that has become increasingly obsolete over the years: the yellow pages. A small percentage of people may continue to make use of the phone book (the elderly, people stuck in business waiting rooms and pay phone frequents), but, as internet culture has evolved, so has the way that people get their information.

Civics

Hawaii People’s Fund will be holding a workshop entitled “Community Organizing 101” to help clarify goals, strategy and tactics of community organizing. Studio 909, Musicians Hall, 949 Kapiolani Blvd., Sat., 2/18, 9am-1pm, $40.

First things first

[Feb. 8: “Game Changer”] Let’s elect Ben.

Win-win plan

I am grateful that former Gov. Ben Cayetano is willing to run for Honolulu mayor to address the escalating problems with noisy, ugly, overly expensive–and increasingly unpopular–heavy rail.

Bus = bad

You are worried with outward beauty. You don’t want to ruin the aesthetics of the island?

Unwavering support

After reading Ben’s interview, I am going to vote for him regardless which way the rail issue ends up. I travel to Bangkok every year and have seen how they did their rail, which makes a lot of sense to me.

Big Oil, big money

I find it very interesting that Cayetano is so determined to kill the rail transit project. Back in the mid-1990s, the state had an oil industry insider as a witness against Big Oil’s fixing of gas prices and appeared to be poised for a big win in the courtroom.

Unprepared for disaster?

[Feb. 8: “Stop Stalling”] Someone told me once that we have at most three days of food stock on island at any given time, meaning that we have enough food shipped here to feed everyone for three days.

Rate hike, again

On Feb. 7, I wrote Rep.