Passage of Senate Bill 538, however, could lead to a lawsuit and doom a personnel management plan, which includes outsourcing, that is designed to save jobs, state Librarian Bart Kane says.
Kane yesterday told the House Committee on Education that he is still awaiting a legal opinion from the state attorney general on whether passage of the bill would void a 51/2-year, $11.2 million contract with Baker & Taylor Inc. that was signed last March.
Start-up problems of the outsourcing plan are being corrected, Kane added.
Meanwhile, a blue-ribbon panel assembled by the Board of Education to study the performance of Baker & Taylor postponed its first meeting, scheduled for yesterday, to Tuesday so the public could be notified.
"We're here to defend the rationale of re-engineering, which includes outsourcing, and not the performance of the vendor," said John Penebacker, Kane's top aide.
Capt. Scott Gibson, 25th Infantry Division spokesman, yesterday said Army legal officers are reviewing the San Francisco case.
Gibson said, however, he doesn't believe that the San Francisco case will have any effect at all "because all cases are handled on their own merits."
The Hawaii chapter of the American Aetheists in January demanded that 25th Infantry Division officials remove the 37-foot cross from the top of the Waianae Range at Schofield Barracks.
Mitchell Kahle, Hawaii chapter director, said the cross, built in 1962 and used for Easter services, violates the First Amendment separation of church and state. The Army's cross at Kolekole Pass cost taxpayers $4,413.
In the San Francisco case, a group of religious leaders and city residents sued the city arguing that keeping the cross, built with public funds and erected on Mount Davidson in a 40-acre San Francisco park, violated the state constitution's guarantee of the "free exercise and enjoyment of religion without discrimination or preference," as well as the federal constitution's ban on government establishment of religion.
A federal judge ruled against the citizens, saying the cross - built in 1934 - was part of "the rich history and culture of San Francisco."
But the 9th U.S. Court of Appeals dissented, saying the cross "carries great religious significance" and lacks a separate historical meaning.
The federal appeals court said keeping the cross in a public park violates the California Constitution. However, the appeals court did not address the federal constitutional question.
Nearly a decade ago in Hawaii, the Marines lost a similar battle and were forced to dismantle a 65-foot white wooden cross at Camp Smith, ending a 22-year vigil for U.S. servicemen who died, disappeared or became prisoners in the Vietnam War and in Southeast Asia.
The Camp Smith cross came down on Dec. 1, 1988, after a federal court ruled that as a Christian icon the cross violated the constitutional separation of church and state.
The Marines had argued that the cross, which had been illuminated at night, transcended a religious symbol and was a "beacon of hope" for MIAs and POWs.
It was replaced with an 80-foot flagpole which flies a 38-by-20-foot American flag.
The cross had been erected in May 1966 as a memorial honoring Marines and sailors who died in Vietnam. It was later rededicated as a POW-MIA memorial as well.
In June 1986 the American Civil Liberties Union sued the Marine Corps saying the cross was unconstitutional. Jewish War Veterans later filed a similar suit.
A small slab of the cross, which was formed by two utility poles, was preserved in a framed glass box erected on the wall near the entrance to the Camp Smith headquarters building.
The board's Student Services Committee voted 5-1 last night in favor of the ban, with dissenting member Lex Brodie calling it "redundant."
The board is scheduled to take up the measure tomorrow.
The policy requires schools to inform staff and students that hazing will not be tolerated.
It defines hazing as "an act used in initiation by exacting humiliating performances from or playing rough practical jokes upon another person."
"What this does is send a message that we cannot degrade individuals, we cannot humiliate individuals ... even for the concept that this makes us a better group," said board member Winston Sakurai.
Initiation activities would still be permitted as long as they honor students' dignity, Sakurai said.
In fact, tiny Hawaii received more pork-barrel money - a total of $155 million - than any state except Texas, according to Citizens Against Government Waste, which today released its annual congressional "pigbook" summary of federal spending.
The group credited a familiar figure with bringing the bacon home: Sen. Daniel Inouye.Hawaii's senior senator is a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, where key spending decisions are made.
In fact, the group singled out Inouye for two special awards: The "Hall of Shame Oinker Award," for funneling $765 million in "bacon bits" to Hawaii in the six years the group has compiled the study, and the "Flower Power Award," for securing a $250,000 grant to study floriculture in the state.
"Sen. Dan Inouye has provided many memorable pork barrel moments over the years," said Citizens Against Government Waste President Tom Schatz.
Inouye is often criticized here for being too quick to spend federal money on his home state, but has defended his actions by saying Hawaii has special needs that only its representatives will look out for.
Asked recently about the accusations of pork-barrel spending in this year's report, Inouye lashed out at the critics.
"It's time they realized Hawaii is a state, too," he said.
Xayyaphone Keomany, 23, of Manaiki Place, is being held on $260,000 bail.
He was charged yesterday with three counts of first-degree sexual assault, two counts of third-degree sexual assault and two counts of kidnapping.
He apparently had been calling her since the incident, wanting to see her again, police said.
The woman, 22, brought some male friends with her to the meeting, and they detained and subdued the suspect until police arrived.
He allegedly directed her to a secluded area early Sunday after she agreed to give him a ride home.
When she refused to have sex with him, he allegedly beat her, dragged her into a building and sexually assaulted her, police said.
She managed to break free, but he went after her and raped her again, police said.
She called police after dropping him off in Kalihi.
Kenneth Oetkan yesterday was charged with breaking into a Kailua home where he had been staying until he was asked to leave on Monday.
A female resident at 1 a.m. yesterday allegedly went to investigate a noise in her kitchen and discovered the suspect holding her purse, police said.
He apparently had removed some louvers to enter the Olomana Street home, police said.
The suspect fled, but officers captured him in the neighborhood a short time later.
The woman's purse was recovered outside her home.