Political districting Kailua residents against sharing a proposed state Senate multi-island or "canoe" district with people in Hanalei, Kauai, can show up next month to testify against the proposed legislative redistricting plan.
plan splits board
Several commission members
are opposed to the creation
of new interisland districtsBy Pat Omandam
pomandam@starbulletin.comThe more testimony against it, the better the chances of it getting changed, suggested Jill Frierson, vice chairwoman of the 2001 Reapportionment Commission.
"The Kailua people better be there," Frierson said.
In what was the most partisan action yet by the nine-member panel, the four Republican-appointed commissioners, which include Frierson, failed yesterday to stop the progress of a new state legislative map, which now goes to statewide hearings next month.
Kailua is considered a GOP stronghold, and Kauai generally is heavily for the Democratic Party.
The new map, which redraws the state's 76 House and Senate districts, increases the number of canoe districts to eight from six.
As proposed, Hanalei would share House and Senate districts with Mokuleia, and Kailua, Oahu, respectively. Hana, Maui, and Puna, Hawaii, would split both House and Senate seats.
The remaining four canoe districts are natural connections between Niihau and Kauai, and between Lanai, Molokai, Kahoolawe and Western Maui.
"I believe that the use of canoe districts is unfair, unpopular, unworkable, unconsti- tutional and, worst of all, unnecessary," said Jim Hal.
He added that most reapportionment advisory council members like himself agree the past 20 years of legislative canoe districts must end.
Meanwhile, the new legislative plan also creates political opportunities for some legislators and political nightmares for others.
For example, the redrawn House district boundaries for Kalihi places current state Reps. Felipe "Jun" Abinsay (D, Moanalua-Kapalama) and Benjamin Cabreros (D, Kalihi Kai-Palama) against each other. Both men have said they have a good relationship and will not run against each other.
They will wait for the final reapportionment of Kalihi before they decide their future.
Other House members, such as Republican Charles Djou (Kahului-Kaneohe) and Democrat Terry Nui Yoshinaga (McCully), also face new districts with other incumbents.
Political opportunities lie in West Oahu, where there will be two new House seats and a new Senate seat. Because there are no incumbents in these districts, current area legislators have the advantage of name recognition.
Yesterday, Republican commissioners attempted to scuttle the plan because of concerns over whether it was legal to include an estimated 41,430 nonresident military dependents in the adjusted state population base used to equally divide the legislative districts.
State Deputy Attorney General Brian Aburano told the commission its action did not clearly or necessarily violate any federal or state laws, but it does go against historical policies and precedents set for state reapportionment.
The 1991 reapportionment commission excluded military dependents. Still, Aburano warned, if the commission decided now to exclude these military dependents, it may be challenged in court.
Commission Chairman Wayne Minami said a legal challenge is inevitable anyway and will likely come from neighbor island residents, who lose out on more House seats on Maui because nearly all of the military dependents counted live on Oahu, giving it more representation.
"We're stuck between looking at it from a purely state viewpoint vs. looking at the federal requirements of one man, one vote," explained Minami, a retired bank president and former state attorney general.
Minami said the problem involved in excluding military dependents is that they do not know whether the dependents' intent is to become Hawaii residents. The information provided by the military is limited, and without any clear-cut data, the federal policy is to favor inclusiveness, he said.
"I wasn't in a position where we could automatically decide they were nonresidents because their husbands or their spouses selected a non-Hawaii state for income tax purpose," he said.
"State precedents have been overruled in federal courts in previous cases. In doing anything in this area, you have to look at the federal constitutional requirements. That's part of your job," Minami said.
The public hearings will begin sometime after Labor Day, after the commission publishes its proposed plan. There is a required 20-day waiting period before the hearings start to give the public time to digest the new district boundaries at a street-by-street level.
Hearing dates are being rescheduled, but plans call for one hearing on Kauai, Molokai and Lanai, two on Maui and Hawaii, and four on Oahu.
"Public testimony is persuasive, and we want to hear from the community," said Commissioner David Rae.
By law the commission must adopt a revised plan by Oct. 4. The final plan must be filed with the chief election officer by Oct. 26 and submitted to the state Legislature by Dec. 28.
For more information, visit the commission's Web site, http://www.hawaiiredistricting.org.
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