If the Legislature is going to override Gov. Ben Cayetano's veto of a bill to raise the sexual age of consent, the decision will have to be made this weekend, according to House and Senate leaders. Age-of-consent override
has Tuesday deadlineBy Richard Borreca
rborreca@starbulletin.comSpeaker of the House Calvin Say, who is on record against the override, promised yesterday to have a decision by Monday.
According to the state Constitution, the Legislature must override the veto by Tuesday, or the bill is dead for this year.
He rejected calls to amend the bill, saying the bill should be reviewed by the Judiciary Committee next year if the Legislature takes any action at all.
Two-thirds of the members in both the House and Senate must approve calling themselves back into session to override the veto, but Say said proponents, including the 19-Republican minority, have yet to round up the support.
The override also must be approved by two-thirds of the members in the House and Senate.
No Democratic governor in Hawaii state history has had a vetoed bill overridden. The last veto override was in 1957.
In the Senate, President Robert Bunda has said he is waiting to hear what the House is proposing before taking up the matter again with his members.
Democratic leader Jonathan Chun (D, South Kauai), yesterday said he was swamped with calls from senators discussing whether to go back to override the governor.
"People on Kauai have been talking to me, also, and they question why the age of consent is set so low."
Hawaii is the only state in which a 14-year-old may consent to have sex with an older person.
Cayetano's biggest concern is the potential 20-year prison term for violators, for example a 19-year-old man having consensual sex with a 14-year-old girl.
Rep. Galen Fox (R, Waikiki), the Republican House leader, said Hawaii adopted a model consensual sex law in 1974 and never changed it, while every other state has since acted.
"It doesn't look good for the state not to address this issue," Fox said.
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