Hawaii: Taking aim to dodge vetoes

WAILUKU - Some of Maui's state lawmakers are readying peace offerings, and perhaps muffin baskets and lei, as they muster supporters to try to persuade Gov. Linda Lingle not to veto at least three measures.

Rep. Angus McKelvey, whose 10th District covers West Maui, discovered his bill "relating to the West Maui transportation plan" among 50 that the Republican governor has said she may reject by a July 8 deadline to sign or reject legislation.

McKelvey's legislation would set up a local working group and hire a private consultant for $50,000 in order to prepare an emergency access plan for West Maui when Honoapiilani Highway is closed by a wildfire, earthquake, tsunami or hurricane.

McKelvey points to how a wildfire last summer forced closure of the highway at Olowalu, blocking tourists desperate to catch flights and workers caught on the wrong side of the traffic jam unable to get to work or to get home.

Rep. Joe Bertram III said he wasn't quite so surprised to see that Lingle might reject his bill to create a University of Hawaii task force to examine ways to cultivate and transport medical marijuana so the practices do not force action by federal law enforcement agencies. Doctor-prescribed medical marijuana has been legal in Hawaii since 2000, but users complain that their supply is routinely confiscated by police or stolen by thugs.

"The Legislature and many individuals in the community worked hard to pass these measures," Lingle wrote in a statement. "However, it is my responsibility as governor to ensure that the bills are legal, constitutional, fiscally sound and in the best long-term interest of the public."

Lingle announced the possible vetoes to give the public a chance to weigh in. The complete list can be found online at www.hawaii.gov/leg/2008-session.

The Legislature passed 294 bills in the session that ended May 1, and Lingle signed into law 200 of those measures, so far.

Veteran Rep. Joe Souki called the governor's proposed cuts a slaughter.

"All the bills were good," he said.

But Souki, who is chairman of the House Transportation Committee, said he was most upset to see his airline bill on the list. He wants to establish a state airline commission, similar to the Public Utilities Commission, which would regulate the wobbly industry.

In light of Aloha Airlines shutdown after it fell into bankruptcy, Souki said that the commission would bring more accountability to the airlines as well as stability in fares and competition in the interisland air travel market.

However, Lingle argued that the bill reduces incentives for the airlines to behave efficiently and discourages healthy competition. It also runs against the federal Airline Deregulation Act of 1978, Lingle said.

Sen. Rosalyn "Roz" Baker, whose 5th District includes West Maui, spoke this week on behalf of McKelvey's initiative. She said she was confused as to why the governor, who was Maui County mayor for eight years, would not endorse creating a public safety plan that requires little investment by the state and was endorsed by the state transportation officials during Senate hearings.

"She's always saying she's doing things for health and safety, and this is exactly that," Baker said. "It's such a manini amount of money. We need to have something in place. We need to be coordinated with the community, hotels, rental cars, ferries, airport and buses. Everyone needs to know what's expected of them. . . . I'm kind of bummed as to why she would even put it on the list."

According to Lingle's office, the governor said HB2520 would utilize state funds not in the annual budget plan and that the bidding process for the private consultant doesn't comply with the state procurement code.

Baker retorted that she would agree with Lingle, if it were a large contract, but in state terms, $50,000 isn't much. She said the Legislature has the right to appropriate money, and the effort to set up an emergency plan is simply the prudent thing to do.

McKelvey said he included the provision to exempt a contract from the procurement code because traffic management consultant, Jim Charlier, of Charlier Associates Inc. of Boulder, Colo., is willing to do the work for $50,000. Other outside consultants would charge four times that amount. If Charlier, who has worked on West Maui transportation issues in the past, doesn't pan out, McKelvey said some local transportation consultants said they would come in and take a pay cut to do the job.

The working group most likely will involve members of Lahaina Bypass Now and others in the Maui community pushing the DOT to continue to move forward with plans to widen and realign Honoapiilani Highway between Maalaea and Lahaina.

Potential working group members would look at assets such as old plantation roads that could be converted into detour routes in case of an emergency, McKelvey said.

"I'm just stunned," he said. "This bill is essential, and it is long overdue. . . . West Maui gets the second-largest number of visitors in the state. We need a plan to get these people back and forth in case of an emergency."

He urged supporters to call the governor's office (808) 586-0221 or e-mail governor .lingle@hawaii .gov.

People's lives and livelihoods are at stake, he said, while his plan would save the state millions it would cost to activate all its resources in an emergency without a plan.

Bertram said that Hawaii's Legislature already passed a law that contravenes federal law when it authorized medicinal marijuana eight years ago.

The existing law needs work, he said. Bertram and his supporters have proposed secured marijuana family farms that are regulated by the Department of Health and protected by police. Then ill people would no longer be required to grow marijuana in their homes and open themselves up to theft and violence, while helping local farmers develop a reliable cash crop.

When Bertram introduced his marijuana-related bills this spring, Lingle announced at a Maui public event that she would do whatever is within her power to make sure those bills do not become law. Lingle also chastised the media for devoting coverage to Bertram's bills.

Maui Police Chief Thomas Phillips said that the only time his officers have arrested people with medical marijuana cards is when they are violating the law. The most common offense is catching someone with marijuana packaged for sale and a large amount of cash on hand, Phillips said.

"I didn't support any of his (Bertram's) bills," Phillips said. "I think he wasted most of his time this year."

Phillips said the current law is full of loopholes through which just about anyone can get a medical card just as long as they find the right doctor and have enough money. Although there is no evidence that marijuana helps patients medically, Phillips said, he would support medicinal marijuana as an option to provide comfort for people with deadly diseases and severe pain.

But the system needs greater oversight first to make sure only those in real need get the cards and not someone just complaining of headaches, Phillips said.

Acknowledging police do not support his bill, Bertram said there is no reason for the state to give up on it.

"Her (Lingle's) position is contradictory," he said. "We just passed a law that she supported that allows the state to import cheap prescription drugs from foreign countries. The federal government doesn't agree with that. Even her own attorney general has said the state has the right to create its own laws in regard to medicinal marijuana."

He also agreed that the current law is vague, but complained that allows law enforcement officers to ignore it and confiscate marijuana whether someone has a medical use card or not. He said that federal drug enforcement agents have said they only want to go after the major growers, not for the people who grow for themselves.

"We're not trying to break any new ground in the context of the law," Bertram said. "The longer this is allowed to go on the way it's been, the more that marijuana will be on the black market. It's really a public safety issue for these already very sick people.

"And I'm hoping we can convince her of that. But even if she does veto the bill, I'm going to implement the study anyway and start having hearings in the House Health Committee."

Hawaii state law permits prescriptions for medical marijuana use for card-carrying patients who suffer from life-threatening or painful diseases and ailments such as AIDS, cancer and severe back pain. Permitted users may have up to 1 ounce of processed marijuana for personal use, as well as three mature plants and four immature plants.
Taking aim to dodge vetoes - Maui News

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