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Organization
of Senate not yet
completed

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By Richard Borreca
Star-Bulletin

The state Senate's Democratic organization is still a work in progress.

Yesterday, a 15-person majority met to organize but was forced to cut the number of committees to 12 from 17 after the minority Democratic senators refused to take committee chairmanships offered.

"We had some disagreements relative to organization," Sen. Bob Bunda, Senate president, said yesterday.

In a written release, Bunda added that the discussions regarding "collaboration and cooperation" were "easier to accept when they had the upper hand."

The minority Democrats, led by Maui Sen. Avery Chumbley, last year ran the Senate and controlled most of the prime chairmanships.

"We would like to extend to other senators; we will not cut off negotiations," Bunda said.

Chumbley and the other minority Democrats were unavailable for comment yesterday.

Areas covered by the committees refused by the minority include higher education, health, technology, energy and housing. Bunda said those issues would be covered by other committees.

In one change, Sen. David Matsuura, who had declined a committee earlier, accepted the chairmanship of Health and Human Services, previously offered to Sen. Suzanne Chun-Oakland.