Cayetano calls Clerical errors by the state Legislature in passage of the budgets of the Judiciary and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs earlier this month will trigger a special session next week to correct the problem.
special session
Procedural errors sent 3 bills
to the governor before the
Senate got to vote on them
By Pat Omandam
and Richard Borreca
Star-BulletinGov. Ben Cayetano called the session "unfortunate," but said he was forced to call the Legislature back into session. The session is expected to cost about $15,000 in extra travel and per diem charges.
"Although this is a technical error, legal procedures must always be followed," Cayetano said this morning.
Cayetano vetoed the bills yesterday, House Speaker Calvin Say said.
"We were of the opinion from our attorneys that is was a procedural thing, but the governor's office took a different tack," Say said.
The special session will only handle those three budget bills, Say said.
The session will start Monday and run through Friday, Cayetano said.
Two of the flawed bills appropriate money for the Judiciary and Office of Hawaiian Affairs budgets, while the third relates to authorizing state bonds.
OHA Chairwoman Haunani Apoliona said yesterday that from what she understands, the OHA and Judiciary budgets were not passed on the same day by the state House and Senate. Procedural questions were raised after the House sent both budgets to the governor before the Senate had a chance to vote on them.
State law requires that both houses approve any legislation before it is transmitted to the governor for approval.
Apoliona said the governor yesterday checked with the attorney general's office to see if there was any way to avoid calling a special session. Some legislators, however, believed a special session was imminent, she said.
"So I think the law requires special sessions to be five days in length and it has to go through hearings on both sides again," Apoliona said. "We would expect that it should not be problematic. I don't think the intent would be to upset anything that's already been passed. It's a matter of the process and procedures weren't followed. That's the technicality."
The state Constitution allows the House speaker and Senate president to convene a special session with the support of two-thirds of their respective membership. Special sessions are limited to 30 days.
The governor can also convene both houses or the Senate alone in special session.
The Legislature held an 11-day special session last August to change the effective date of a new medical privacy law, as well as to approve an amendment that allows the state Reapportionment Commission to stagger the 25 Senate seats up for election next year.
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