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Governor against
Staff and wire reports
special session to
fix term discrepancyHolding a legislative special session for the purpose of fixing a state constitutional amendment on Senate terms is a waste of taxpayer money, the governor says.
"I do not believe that a special session should be called," Gov. Ben Cayetano said in a letter to state House and Senate leaders which was released today.
The special session would be to fix a constitutional flub that would see winning incumbents in the 2002 state Senate elections getting four-year terms while new senators would get two-year terms. Although nothing is yet official, the state House and Senate are moving closer to holding a special session next month.
Senate President Norman Mizuguchi (D, Aiea) yesterday recommended to House Speaker Calvin Say (D, Palolo) that an 11-day special session begin Aug. 7.
"This time frame will allow the Senate to consider judicial appointments and the Legislature to provide the governor with the required 10-day notice for constitutional amendments," Mizuguchi said in a letter to senators.
House and Senate leaders have said they do not want to start a special session until the House and Senate Judiciary committees have agreed to a proposed constitutional amendment to remedy the term inequity. It would be placed on this year's general election ballot for voter ratification.
Mizuguchi earlier scheduled a special Senate session for Thursday and Friday next week to take up confirmation of three judicial appointments. That apparently would be canceled, with the confirmations taken up during the longer joint session.
Two community groups pressing for the special session to fix the term inequity announced last week that they had the support of 17 out of the 25 senators needed to meet the two-thirds majority requirement.
Say has said he is confident the House would go along with a Senate request.
But Cayetano said in his letter to Say and Mizuguchi that the Legislature can easily revisit the constitutional amendment issue next session and that a special session would be an additional expense for taxpayers.
The governor's communications director, Jackie Kido, said this morning that the governor is not advocating a special session for any issue.
But Cayetano and Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono have suggested previously that if there is a special session, lawmakers try to remedy what appears to be mass confusion over a new medical information privacy law.
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