Hawaii’s World

By A.A. Smyser

Thursday, November 7, 1996

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Issues for a
constitutional convention

IT may sound breathless, but we hardly have a moment to spare in preparing for the constitutional convention that voters approved Tuesday. I was a longtime supporter of a new Con Con but cooled off as the press of sovereignty and other complex and emotional issues made it apparent we may not have enough thinking and discussion time to get ready for it.

But we are going to have one, so let's start now. Three years ahead of the 1950 Con Con that drafted our first state constitution, a 24-member committee of prominent community leaders was appointed to study other state constitutions.

The Legislative Reference Bureau worked with it and produced an immensely helpful 396-page manual with funding help from the Hawaii Statehood Commission.

At the University of Hawaii 63 students, the same number of delegates as the official Con Con, drafted their own model constitution and got considerable media attention well ahead of the official Con Con election. Such steps helped immensely in leading to an official document that was thoroughly debated, very well received and easily approved.

Pre-convention work for our 1968 and 1978 conventions was less thorough. One of the most important products in 1978 was the creation of an Office of Hawaiian Affairs that was not even a pre-convention issue.

The next Con Con will face and deserves advance, impartial, pro-con information on issues like these:

Same-sex marriage, an issue that may have triggered a lot of yes votes Tuesday.

Hawaiian sovereignty, possibly to be discussed in advance of or at nearly the same time as a Hawaiians-only convocation on sovereignty. Merging OHA and the Hawaiian Home Lands Department could be on the table, along with revenue and rights issues and 50 percent blood quantum requirements.

Devolving more power to the counties. Democrats swept the state proclaiming home rule in 1962. They have been at work ever since building up the most centralized state government in America. A Republican Congress is sending more powers down to the states. Should we send more down to our counties? More land use and planning control? Broader taxing authority? Control of their own bargaining with government unions? More education control?

Legislative restructuring. A one-house Legislature? A move away from all single-member districts? Term limits? A ban on the "high three"? Open up financial accounting and get rid of "smoke and mirrors" budgeting? Initiative? Referendum?

Judicial reform. Four well-considered reform measures were approved by voters as amendments in 1994 but have been held up in a legal contest between the governor and the Legislature. They would rein in the appointive dominance of the governor and chief justice.

The 1968 Con Con produced collective bargaining rights for public employees. Should the next one reclaim for government at least the same freedom-to-manage rights the private sector has?

Two helpful reference books are available now in state libraries. The 1950 and 1968 Con Cons are detailed in "With an Understanding Heart" by Norman Meller, a UH political science professor and former legislative reference director. It was published in 1971.

In 1993 Anne Feder Lee wrote "The Hawaii State Constitution - a Reference Guide." For concerned citizens, both should be urgent reading.