Advertisement - Click to support our sponsors.
IN AND AROUND THE CAPITOL
Senators want to restore
unwed partners’ benefitsElectronic pay for city employees
By Bruce Dunford
Late-term abortion
Briefly...
Associated PressThe co-chairmen of the Senate Judiciary Committee are moving to restore the "reciprocal beneficiary" benefits for public employees that were part of the compromise for breaking the emotional deadlock over the gay marriage issue.
The unmarried partners of about 60 public employees and retirees lost their health benefits at the end of June after the Legislature failed to extend the 1997 law providing coverage to domestic couples who, by law, cannot marry.
The Legislature approved the reciprocal beneficiary law to give gay couples some of the same benefits as married couples in anticipation of voter approval in 1998 of a state constitutional amendment banning gay marriages.
Although the Hawaii Supreme Court ruled last year that gay couples' claims they are entitled to receive marriage licenses was moot because of the new amendment, it left untouched its 1993 ruling that gay couples are entitled to the same rights and benefits as heterosexual couples.
Gay couples received some of those rights -- such as hospital visitation, property rights and family leave -- under the 1997 state law. Others -- such as health benefits, inheritance and adoption privileges -- were withheld.
Dan Foley, who represented the three gay couples whose lawsuit resulted in the 1993 ruling that they were entitled to marriage licenses, has warned that unless there is a comprehensive domestic partnership law, the legal case will continue.
Sen. Matt Matsunaga said the bill he and Judiciary Co-Chairman Avery Chumbley (D, Kihei) introduced would restore the health insurance benefits for public employees.
"Others want to go farther. They want a comprehensive domestic partnership law," Matsunaga (D, Palolo) said.
The House's Democratic majority has taken no position on reciprocal beneficiaries or domestic partnerships because there is no consensus on the issue among the 39 members.
Sen. Norman Sakamoto (D, Moanalua), who supported banning gay marriages, questioned the need to restore the reciprocal beneficiary benefits when it involves so few public employees.
He said lawmakers should concentrate on education and the economy instead of again taking up what would be a controversial issue.
Bill would require
Star-Bulletin staff
electronic pay for most
new city employeesMost new city employees would be required to accept their pay via electronic transfer under a City Council bill.
Councilman Duke Bainum, who introduced the measure, said it would save the city as much as $50,000 annually if all employees got their pay through automatic transfer by eliminating the cost of issuing, processing and distributing checks.
The bill was moved out of the Council Policy Committee yesterday.
City finance officials said they endorsed the plan, so long as the Council stipulated that part-time, summer hires would not be included in the requirement.
About 3,000, or one-third, of city employees now get an actual paycheck on pay day, and the city has been trying to encourage them to convert to electronic transfer.
Edlyn Taniguchi, Treasury Division chief, said many simply don't trust banks while some don't want their wives to know how much overtime pay they're getting, Taniguchi said.
Group seeks late-term
By Pat Omandam
abortion ban
Star-BulletinA coalition of pro-family groups is urging state lawmakers to support a bill banning so-called "partial-birth" abortions in Hawaii.
Garret T. Hashimoto, chairman of the Hawaii Christian Coalition, said yesterday that medical authorities have made it clear that a "partial-birth" abortion is never medically necessary and is far more harmful to a mother's health than a full-term delivery.
A recent poll shows that 61 percent of Americans support a ban on this type of abortion, except when the mother's life is in danger, he said. The procedure, medically known as a dilation and extraction, is performed after the fetus has been partially extracted through the birth canal.
"We are begging the public and our legislators to please get involved," Hashimoto said about Senate Bill 2139. "Please help us stop this madness."
The group gave Sen. Norman Sakamoto (D, Moanalua) a petition with thousands of signatures supporting the ban. Sakamoto, who introduced the measure, said the petition shows many people in Hawaii agree the practice should be banned.
Coalition members believe thousands of dilation and extractions are done nationwide each year, but they didn't have any figures for Hawaii.
Sakamoto said 30 states have taken steps to enact a ban, and Hawaii also should take steps to stop the practice. He added that if "partial-birth" abortions are not currently done here, there shouldn't be a problem passing the bill.
Senate Bill 2139 is awaiting a hearing by the Senate Health and Human Services Committee. The House in past sessions has supported a ban on dilation and extraction abortions and has agreed to support it again if it passes the Senate, Sakamoto said.
Briefly ...
FINNING:
Call it Jaws II, the legislative sequel.The House Ocean Recreation and Marine Resources Committee passed a bill yesterday strictly limiting the possession, purchase, sale or trade of shark fins.
The measure, House Bill 1947, keeps the issue alive before the state Legislature, after last year's near miss in passing a ban on shark finning by Hawaii-based fishing boats. That measure stalled in a House-Senate conference committee in the waning days of the 1999 session.
The bill, which now goes before the House Judiciary Committee, would allow shark-finning in the state only if a shark is brought to shore whole, meaning with its head and flesh intact. Violators would face up to a $15,000 administrative fine if caught.
Jim Cook, chairman of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, urged lawmakers to narrow the bill to cover shark finning only in Hawaiian waters, and to leave regulation of the practice on the high seas to the council and the National Marine Fisheries Service.
The council has proposed, among other things, a shark management plan that would limit all Hawaii longline fishermen to keep up to 50,000 sharks a year.
Shark finning is the practice of cutting off the fins of sharks that are routinely caught as by-catch in long-line fishing nets. Without its fins, a shark drowns.
The fins are used in soups in Asia and Hawaii.
LEGISLATURE'S COSTS:
Running the state Legislature this year will cost $12,260,676, according to a bill that passed the state Senate yesterday. The money goes for the operations of the legislation, including committees and staffing.The Senate will be able to spend up to $5,005,794 and the House up to $7,254,882.
Sen. Marshall Ige was the only lawmaker to vote against the appropriation. He said he didn't question the amount being spent but complained that there was not enough information about specific expenditures.
The appropriation has been the same for the past three years, as lawmakers say that while the state is suffering an economic downturn they shouldn't be spending more for their own operations.
GROUNDHOGS:
Shadows followed legislators around the state Capitol yesterday.Not their own, but high school students who were taking part in National Groundhog Job Shadow Day 2000.
Forty high school students and 31 lawmakers took part in the initiative to show firsthand how the Legislature operates.
"It's very exciting," said Jennifer Goya, who shadowed Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono. Goya, a senior at Roosevelt High School, is involved in Hawaii's School-to-Work program, in which students observe professionals in their work environment.
Goya said she initially had little interest in politics, but after shadowing Hirono, was encouraged to keep open her options regarding future career plans.
Shadow Day was sponsored by America's Promise Hawaii, Hawaii's School-to-Work, the Voluntary Action Center and Junior Achievement Hawaii.
WOMEN'S CAUCUS:
Lawmakers hope to improve the quality of life for families by coming up with an economic agenda for women's issues.Hawaii's Women's Legislative Caucus was to hold a news conference today in the governor's office on health care, welfare reform and retirement for women.
Fair and equitable standards are needed for families seeking assistance, said Rep. Emily Auwae, regarding welfare reform.
Rep. Marilyn Lee said not many health resources are available to women.
The caucus encourages a domestic violence division in the State Judiciary. Sometimes cutbacks in welfare cause domestic violence, Auwae said.
The Women's Legislative Caucus is a bipartisan caucus made up of 17 women in the 76-member Legislature.
You can track bills, hearings and other Legislature action via: Get involved
The Legislative Reference Bureau's public access room, state Capitol, room 401. Open 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Friday, and 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. Phone: 587-0478; fax, 587-0793; TTY, 538-9670.
Neighbor islanders, call toll-free and enter ext. 70478 after the number:
Big Island, 974-4000; Maui,
984-2400; Kauai, 274-3141;
Molokai and Lanai, 468-4644.
Legislature Directory
Hawaii Revised Statutes
Legislature Bills
