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Major bills stall
as lawmakers divided
No decisions have been made
Breast-feeding protection advances
on gun control, fireworks, or
civil service and government reform
Fluoridation, gambling dead or dying By Richard Borreca
Star-BulletinWhen the state Legislature opened last month, lawmakers said speedy work on important issues -- ranging from gun control and fireworks to civil service reform -- would be needed to change the public's poor perception of them.
Now, with more than a third of the Legislature's 60-day session completed, few of the major pieces of legislation promised are close to agreement.
"I think the public expectations are high, so we have to produce," Republican state Rep. Barbara Marumoto said.
Overflow hearings have been held on mandatory water fluoridation, gun control and gambling, but no agreement has been reached on the issues, except to kill legalized gambling and postpone a decision until next year on fluoridation.
Perhaps the measure closest to a decision is fireworks.
Gov. Ben Cayetano is steadfast in his opposition to the private use of fireworks. He says it is a health hazard.
An informal coalition of the American Lung Association and the Honolulu Police Department have been monitoring the legislation, according to several legislative leaders, but there is no progress yet, although the bill to limit fireworks use has been in a House-Senate conference committee since last year.
Last week, Sen. Cal Kawamoto offered the House a compromise, and House Speaker Calvin Say acknowledged that "it is the House's turn to respond," but no breakthrough has been apparent.
The problem, according to Maui Sen. Avery Chumbley, is that residents are evenly divided.
"Half of the people want a ban, half of the people want fireworks, so we have no clear path to take -- and we don't want to wind up antagonizing 100 percent of the people," he said.
Equally controversial is the subject of gun control.
Senate Judiciary Committee Co-Chairman Matt Matsunaga said he hasn't had time to get a sense of what his committee wants to do.
"I'm pretty confident we will have something, but I am not sure what it will look like at this time," Matsunaga said.
The three major gun control proposals would require gun owners to regularly re-register their guns by taking them to the police station; allow only registered gun owners to buy ammunition; and require gun owners to store their weapons in commercially approved gun lockers.
Matsunaga says he thinks some form of re-registration is politically possible if gun owners don't have to physically move their weapons to the police station, but he has more concerns about the other bills.
"We haven't had too much discussion," he said. "(We are) still feeling everybody out."
Asked why the Senate didn't discuss the issue during the interim, Matsunaga said it is difficult to get all his committee members together.
"Remember, we are a part-time Legislature. Some legislators are more available than others during the interim," Matsunaga said.
Say said he thought something on gun control would move from the Judiciary committee, but he wasn't sure about a final agreement.
The Legislature's most difficult issue was handed to it by Gov. Ben Cayetano, who in the last two years of his term wants to reform the state's civil service and government operations.
Doing that, however, runs in opposition to the politically powerful public worker unions.
They have allies in leadership positions in both the House and Senate.
"It is going to be a rough journey," Say said, noting that about a third of the House wants major changes, another third is willing to change portions of the civil service law, while the remaining third is pleased with the existing setup.
"We have the next week-and-a-half to develop it," Say said.
GOP leader Marumoto, was not impressed.
"Just because they talk about something doesn't guarantee action," she said. "The people are interested in results."
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