Advertisement - Click to support our sponsors.


Starbulletin.com


Thursday, March 30, 2000



IN AND AROUND THE CAPITOL

Tapa

Legislature 2000


Flag-desecration
vote sparks
heated debate

Prison land talks
Housekeeping issues

By Harold Morse
Star-Bulletin

Tapa

State Sen. Cal Kawamoto finds it sad that the U.S. Senate voted down a proposed constitutional amendment that would have given Congress power to prohibit desecration of the flag.

But Brent White, legal director, American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii, applauds the vote.

"It's too bad," Kawamoto said yesterday. "I believe in that resolution that we should not desecrate the flag."

A retired Air Force major and Vietnam veteran, Kawamoto sees a need to treat the flag as a symbol of courage and commitment, he said.

Jimmy Chong, commander Kau Tom Post 11, American Legion, lined up with Kawamoto. "The flag should be honored and not be destroyed in any manner whatsoever," Chong said. "It should be taken care of in the proper manner and be respected."

In Kawamoto's first year in the Legislature, 1995, a flag measure was passed, he said.

"We passed a resolution in support of making desecrating the flag a violation, making it illegal to do that," Kawamoto said. "Unfortunately, the Supreme Court has ruled that it's freedom of speech, and I beg to differ from that."

ACLU's White sees the U.S. Senate vote differently. "It's a great victory for the First Amendment and therefore for all Americans," White said.

"You know, flag burning is a form of symbolic speech and an expression of political dissent. Protection of such expression is at the core of the First Amendment. It's a victory for the Constitution, which the flag represents," White said.

Hawaii's U.S. Sens. Daniel Akaka and Daniel Inouye voted no on the amendment. Efforts to get further statements from the senators' offices were unsuccessful last night. Kawamoto had no comment on the way Hawaii's two senators voted.

The 63-37 tally fell four votes short of the two-thirds majority needed; a similar vote failed by three votes in 1995. A top agenda item for Republicans each year since they won control of Congress, the proposal consists of a single sentence: "Congress shall have the power to prohibit the physical desecration of the flag of the United States." Fifty-one Republicans and 12 Democrats voted for the amendment. Voting against it were 33 Democrats and four Republicans.



Legislature Directory
Legislature Bills & Hawaii Revised Statutes


Lawmakers, owner
of planned prison
land talk it over

By Bruce Dunford
Associated Press

Tapa

The owner of 2,200 acres in the remote King's Landing area near the Hilo airport talked with state House leaders yesterday about a House proposal to build a private prison for Hawaii inmates on her property.

Sheila Watumull and her attorney, E. Gunner Schull, met behind closed doors with the lawmakers for about an hour.

"They just wanted to make sure the owner of the property agreed with what was being proposed, and in a general way we assured them the owner does," Schull said.

The lawmakers were told "that I would give a certain amount of property in exchange for infrastructure as yet to be decided," said Watumull.

She is offering to donate about 200 acres for the prison site in exchange for the roads and utilities that would make the area viable for urban and resort development, Schull said.

A proposal before the House Finance Committee designates the King's Landing area for a 1,700-bed private facility with both medium- and minimum-security units and a set budget for rehabilitation.

The Senate has approved a measure allowing the state administration to proceed with a privately-built and privately-run prison either in Hawaii or on the mainland.

State Public Safety Director Ted Sakai told the House committee yesterday that the Cayetano administration is willing to consider the King's Landing site, but wants the flexibility to use another site if that one doesn't work out.

Rep. Nestor Garcia, chairman of the House Public Safety Committee, said the meeting with Watumull cleared up any misgivings about her offer.

"I think I feel a little better now that we have had a chance to actually talk to the property owner," he said. "Heretofore it has only been something that we have been hearing anecdotally that she was interested in offering property to the state for the development of this facility."

Garcia also discounted concerns raised by some Big Island Hawaiian groups that a prison might harm historic sites at King's Landing.

"It was fruitful to learn that the site she has in mind to give to the state would in no way be in proximity to any of the historic sites that have been associated with the property," he said, referring to an ancient Hawaiian fishing village and the possible site of King Kamehameha's legendary "splintered paddle" incident.

Schull said for the state, it offers an isolated area for a prison that is very close to the Hilo Airport for the interisland transport of inmates.

For the owner, "it's a beautiful property, so we'd probably want to do something like resort-urban type development," he said.

While the land is now zoned for agriculture uses, it is designated in the county plan for urban and resort development, with enough land available to create a suitable buffer between the prison and homes and hotels, Schull said.

During the Finance Committee hearing, Kupuna Eleanor Ahuna opposed building a prison on the Big Island, saying it's time to use traditional Hawaiian methods for rehabilitation of nonviolent criminals.

There instead should be wellness and healing centers relying on the Hawaiian tradition of ho'oponopono to resolve differences, she said.

Ahuna is a leader in a group of prison opponents who began this week staging protest demonstrations at the entrance to the Hilo Airport.



Legislature Directory
Legislature Bills & Hawaii Revised Statutes


Housekeeping bills
keep ’em busy

By Pat Omandam
Star-Bulletin

Tapa

With less than a month left in the session, state lawmakers are passing fairly routine measures known as "housekeeping" bills to clear the decks for the more pressing issues in these waning weeks.

One measure sent to Gov. Ben Cayetano this week clarifies what organizations can apply for and who can use special number license plates. Other bills would improve the reporting of cancer cases and allow licensed nursing homes to return unused prescription drugs.

Here are a few of the bills adopted by the House and Senate. They go to the governor for his approval or veto.

Bullet Special license plates

A House bill amends a 1999 law by removing the requirement that an organization applying for a special number license plate have at least 100 members. It also allows any registered vehicle owner, and not just a group member, to apply for the special license plate.

Nonprofit groups, military veterans groups, state or county agencies or any accredited higher education institution may apply with the four counties for these higher-cost special plates as a way to raise funds.

So far, only the Bishop Museum and the Hawaii Alliance for Arts Education have received county approval for special plates.

Bullet Garment laws

A Senate bill repeals the garment industry homework law, which requires a certificate be issued by the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations if a garment manufacturer has workers who sew at home.

House Economic Development Chairman Bob Herkes (D, Volcano) said in his committee report that only one certificate has been issued in the past three years and the law is unnecessary regulation.

Bullet Psychological licensing

A House bill attempts to increase the number of psychologists in Hawaii by streamlining state law to say if a doctorate program or internship is accredited by the American Psychology Association, there is no need for an internal review or scrutiny of the program or internship, as required under current law.

House Health Chairman Alex Santiago (D, Pupukea) said there are 178 clinical psychology doctorate programs and 426 internship programs accredited by the APA nationwide and this bill will have a broad impact.

"These amendments will allow fast tracking of an application through the process," Santiago said in his committee report.

Bullet Prescription drugs

A House bill would reduce the waste and costs of drugs for institutional facilities and supervised-living groups by allowing them to return unused, unopened drugs to the dispensing pharmacy so the drugs may be redispensed and redistributed.

In the last quarter of 1999, the Department of Human Services spent more than $1.2 million for drugs administered in long-term care facilities.

Bullet State Fire Council

A House bill would allow the State Fire Council to appoint advisory committees comprised of representatives from each county fire department to help coordinate statewide training, data collection and plans for firefighters.

Bullet Cancer detection reporting

A Senate bill amended by the House aims to improve the collection of Hawaii's cancer statistics by requiring doctor's offices, laboratories, free-standing radiation oncology facilities and other treatment and pathology facilities to report cancer cases detected to the Hawaii Tumor Register or to hospital-based registries.

Lawmakers say current law is limited because it only requires hospitals, skilled nursing homes and intermediate care homes to report cases to the registry. Advances in medicine have allowed for the treatment of many cancer cases outside a hospital setting, they said.



Legislature Directory
Legislature Bills & Hawaii Revised Statutes



E-mail to City Desk


Text Site Directory:
[News] [Business] [Features] [Sports] [Editorial] [Do It Electric!]
[Classified Ads] [Search] [Subscribe] [Info] [Letter to Editor]
[Feedback]



© 2000 Honolulu Star-Bulletin
https://archives.starbulletin.com