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Youth legislators
take job seriously
The teens will consider some
By Treena Shapiro
50 bills during the annual
spring break event
Star-Bulletin
Nicole Chang wants action on education and highway safety issues this week as governor during the YMCA Youth Legislature.
Chang, 18, a Waipahu High School senior who plans to be a marine biologist, won't be able to propose her own bill relating to substitute teachers.
But she's interested in targeting pimps, mothers who endanger their fetuses and people who talk on cellular phones while driving.
About 60 teen-agers will spend their spring vacation considering 50 pieces of legislation they authored for the 51st annual YMCA Hawaii State Youth Legislature, which convened at the state Capitol yesterday afternoon.
The goal is to pass as many bills and resolutions as possible. "They will be passed onto the real Legislature. I guess they take it into consideration," Chang said. Some bills passed by the youth legislature have eventually become laws.
The youth legislature will also spend some time considering bills already killed by the Legislature.So what do these young people want? Robert Tokunaga, an 18-year-old St. Louis High School senior, wants the death penalty instituted in Hawaii.
"Crime, especially first-degree premeditated crime has increased," he explained, noting that a recent decrease hasn't eliminated the problem. "Using capital punishment can be a deterrent to many premeditated crimes."
Tokunaga, who has been driving for more than two years, said he also would like to see speeding fines increased.
"If I were to injure anyone while speeding, the price of that would be larger than any monetary fine."
Ernest Chun-Olinger, 18, another Waipahu High School senior, wants to see the age for mandatory curfews dropped to 16 and the frequency of driver's licensing renewals increased with age.
Chun-Olinger, who will be attending the University of Nevada at Las Vegas next year, said he doesn't plan to enter politics. This is his second year participating in the youth legislature. "I like it for fun, but not for a career," he said.
Regardless of whether they plan to make careers in politics, some youth legislators would like to get credit for their service.
The youth legislature's final bit of legislation, Senate Concurrent Resolution 8 is described:
"Requesting that the YMCA Youth Legislature program be transformed into a half-credit of high school social studies and that the state convention be held during part of a week of school hours."
But for the time being, the participants have chosen to give up their free time.
Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono, a former youth legislator herself, congratulated the group and their families. "Welcome to the state Capitol and a Sunday, yet," she joked. "You mean business, don't you."
Armed with wikiwiki voter registration forms, Hirono spoke to the teens about raising the voting percentage among 18- to 24-year-olds, calling their attention to the fact that only 20 percent in that age group voted in the 1998 elections. "You cannot have a democracy that is vital, that is viable with 20 percent of the people participating," she said.
Hirono challenged the youth legislators to make sure their generation wasn't the first without a voice. "Take up that cause. Get the young people involved. We need your help," she told them.
The youth legislature will begin discussing legislation today at the University of Hawaii, where participants will stay in dormitories until Friday.
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