On Politics
By Richard Borreca
Sunday, September 30, 2001
It was late Wednesday afternoon, and Ben Villaflor, the state Senate's affable sergeant-at-arms, had spent the day keeping the Senate behind closed koa-wood doors while keeping out the news media and any stray members of the public. Lawmakers close door
on public debateVillaflor was just following orders. Over in the House, his counterpart did the same when the House members called themselves into caucus.
The only difference was that the Senate meeting was for Democrats and Republicans while the House meetings were not, with one each for Democrats and Republicans.
The Senate was not alone. It was joined at different times by Hawaii's top leaders in labor and business.
The subject under discussion was what to do when the Legislature comes back into session next month.
The various parties were finding out what the others wanted before the Legislature convenes an unprecedented third special session.
Hawaii's Legislature usually finds itself in special session because of some goof. They mistakenly passed the wrong bill, or they mistakenly failed to pass the bill in the right form, or some other flaw has set the lawyers all atwitter.
This time, however, business and labor are looking for help. They are looking for new laws, new dollars and new policies to help with the state's emergency recession.
It is a cozy group, and the only way the public will know what is decided is when the Legislature opens the doors and announces its decision.
"The danger is having a meeting of the minds behind closed doors on issues that should be discussed in public," says Sen. Les Ihara (D, Kapahulu-Kaimuki).
He points out that the October legislative session is likely to be five days -- the minimum number of days needed to pass a new piece of legislation.
The catch is that if something is to be passed in five days, it cannot be amended along the way because that would take more time. So when the public hearing is held in the five-day session, it is just for show -- no one will be able to derail the train.
It nothing can be done during the five-day session, when will the Legislature decide on what is going to be passed?
Hint: The answer is in the first paragraph of this article.
The state administration in a couple of instances has been doing what it can to get the information out to the public. Gov. Ben Cayetano, in the best example that shows that he really does get it, opened up the state Internet site (www.ehawaiigov.org/main/html) to anyone who has a suggestion for fixing Hawaii's economy.
More than a hundred suggestions have come in already. Some are off the wall, but others are thoughtful and should show Hawaii's political leaders that the public feels it has a stake in the local economy and is willing to help make changes.
Cayetano also ordered the state economists to start posting up-to-date information on the Internet, which you can find at www.hawaii.gov/dbedt/special.
"The data will show us on a daily basis how travel and tourism is reacting to the crisis and how it is affecting jobs," says Seiji Naya, director of the state department of Business and Economic Development and Tourism.
One look at the huge drop in the number of tourists coming to Hawaii and you know why Hawaii's business leaders are forcing those smiles.
Another legislator who gets it is Sen. Donna Kim, who one week after the Sept. 11 attacks had her tourism committee planning a public hearing on what tourism officials were doing. She is no patsy for the tourist industry, so she wanted to know how the money will be spent and what they expect to get in return.
Since then the state House has announced a series of public hearings for next week, but you can bet the big decisions already have been made.
Richard Borreca writes on politics every Sunday in the Star-Bulletin.
He can be reached at 525-8630 or by e-mail at rborreca@starbulletin.com.
