Page 7 - MidWeek East - April 5, 2023

said, “I can kill a bill anytime I want to.” And the worst part? He wasn’t wrong. This prac- tice prevails in the Hawaiʻi state Capitol and needs to be reformed before more corrup- tion occurs at the detriment of our East O‘ahu residents.
The spirit of control from the House leadership start- ing from the speaker, to the majority leader and down through committee chairs is where the accumulation of power has reached great heights, and a single individu- al anywhere in that food chain has the authority to decide to no longer move a piece of leg- islation forward.
during which a vast majority of the public expressed sup- port for. At the recent hearing, 49 testimonies were in sup- port while four were in oppo- sition. Yet, in its first hearing, the bill was killed by the com- mittee chair without taking a vote. Committee members were never given the oppor- tunity to state their stance on record, and this measure may have passed based upon their shared past opinions.
ones to change it. The recom- mendations of the commis- sion to improve the standards of conduct are a good start, but to succeed, pressure must also come from the outside.
Suffrage in committees is limited to the chairperson who decides whether to take a vote on the bills. If the chairperson doesn’t like a bill, they will say it is “deferred,” meaning it is dead, not to be considered again in the session unless so indicated.
This practice has impacted a matter close to home for East O‘ahu, specifically regarding the Luana Kai Senior Living Project planned for Kalama Valley. In 2021, our Legisla- ture approved $500 million in bond funding for the proj-
measure was unnecessary, and therefore not placed on an agenda before the deadline for its second public hearing.
There’s an old saying: “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts abso- lutely.” It is perhaps naïve to think those who benefit from the present system will be the
Our legislature has seemed to forget that power rests not in our committee chairs, but in our people. Every bill should be heard, be subject to public testimony and offered a vote by all committee mem- bers.
APRIL 5, 2023 7
I n 2022, a former — and currently incarcerated — state lawmaker boldly
STATE REP. GENE WARD
Protecting East O‘ahu Residents Is The Main Priority
State Rep. Gene Ward speaks during a committee hearing.
PHOTO COURTESY THE OFFICE OF STATE REP. GENE WARD
ect. This year, I introduced HB461 to remove this fund- ing source and end the project in our community. However, the bill died because of a sin- gle chair’s decision that the
Contact state Rep. Gene Ward (District 18 — Hawai‘i Kai, Portlock and Kalama Valley) at 808-586-6420 or repward@capitol.hawaii.gov.
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