THE concept of disconnected legislative districts makes no sense except in strictly mathematical terms. Most states would not seriously consider such a scheme, and the notion of chopping off part of one state and combining it with another to equalize representation in the U.S. House would bring howls of laughter. The Reapportionment Commission should therefore go back to the drawing board. It’s time to sink
canoe district ideaThe issue: The state Reapportionment
Commission has proposed an increase in
legislative districts spread over several islands.Hawaii's Legislature now includes such "canoe" districts, in violation of the state Constitution, which says, "No district shall extend beyond the boundaries of any basic island unit," essentially meaning the county boundaries. The commission has reconfigured the lines to make them even more convoluted. Commission Chairman Wayne Minami says the panel "just drew the lines as the new population changes led us to." Limiting the criteria to population left common sense on the cutting room floor, along with constitutional considerations.
Proposed changes mean that residents of northern Kauai, now paired in the Senate with eastern Maui, would instead share a senator with voters in Oahu's suburban Kailua. In the House, most northern Kauaians would have their own representative, but others would be included in a district with the Schofield Barracks area of Oahu. In both House and Senate races, those eastern Maui voters' new ballot mates would be residents of Puna on the Big Island.
Combining Kauai with Niihau and Maui with Molokai and Lanai are understandable, because they are in the same counties, and neither Niihau, Lanai nor Molokai are populated enough to merit a full seat in either the House or Senate. Creating other canoe districts by carving up the islands, including Oahu, would result -- as it does now -- in conflicted representation.
A better pattern would result in Kauai and Niihau having two senators and three representatives. Maui, Molokai and Lanai should have three senators and six House members, as should the Big Island. Individual districts could be drawn within those island combinations. That would result in eight senators and 15 House members representing the neighbor islands, one more in each chamber than they have now.
The House and Senate could achieve the desired tie-breaking odd number by adding or subtracting one seat in each chamber from Oahu, relieving residents of the Schofield Barracks area and Kailua from sharing a lawmaker with a neighbor island. Increasing the number of House and Senate districts would require a constitutional amendment.
As things now stand, a voter in an affected district could challenge the "canoe" system in court. That effort most likely would be successful, throwing the Legislature into disarray.
The Reapportionment Commission should thus sink its canoes, jump overboard and swim to shore as it seeks to bring its proposals into conformity with the Constitution and common sense.
NEW York recently became the first state to ban the use of hand-held cellular telephones while driving, but that measure may be inadequate. A new study using images of brain activity indicates that telephone head sets that don't require holding can also be dangerous. As many have suspected, drivers enter another mental zone when talking into a cell phone. Legislators in Hawaii and across the country should seriously consider new restrictions. Hands-free phones
endangers drivers, tooThe issue: A new study says talking
on a cell phone while driving is a
distraction regardless of whether
it is hand-held or hands-free.New York legislators acted in response to studies on the distractions caused by cell phones. Most cited is a 1997 study published in the authoritative New England Journal of Medicine concluding that distractions caused by using a cell phone quadrupled a driver's risk of collision, roughly the same as the impairment caused by driving while drunk. However, other studies conducted in the United States, Britain and Japan have concluded that hands-free phones also can pose a risk.
A study published in the current issue of NeuroImage asserts that the risk is caused by people's inability to concentrate on two things at the same time. Scientists conducted the study by using new technology allowing brain areas to be monitored while undertaking cognitive tasks. Distractions caused by talking on the phone while driving cannot be compared with talking to a passenger in the car, said Dr. Marcel Just, a psychology professor and co-director of the Center for Cognitive Brain Imaging at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. A passenger is aware of changing road conditions and is likely to shut up when appropriate. A person at the other end of the phone is oblivious to the traffic and will keep on talking.
The study did not specifically measure the brain activity of people driving cars and talking, but the tasks that were assigned to the volunteers use similar brain areas, so it is relevant to the issue of driving while talking on cell phones. "Lawmakers need to know there is a cost whenever people try to do multiple tasks," said Dr. Jordan Grafman, a neuroscientist at the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke in Bethesda, Md.
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