Gov’s call for Counties rule. That's what some county mayors hope will happen with a series of State of the State proposals offered by someone who used to be one of them.
county rule draws
mixed reception
Lingle speech lauded
Drug plan praised on Maui
Trip called unnecessary
By Crystal Kua
ckua@starbulletin.com
"I think it's very obvious the counties are not stepchildren of the state," Maui Mayor Alan Arakawa said.
The bulk of "the county decision-making should be done at the county level," Arakawa said.
But whether the counties will get -- or even want -- the additional power that's being proposed is already being debated.
Gov. Linda Lingle, a former Maui mayor and County Council member, proposed:
>> Giving the counties 100 percent of the uncontested traffic ticket fines amounting to an additional $2 million to $3 million a year.Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris called the governor's civil service and collective-bargaining proposal a "bold move.">> Allowing the counties to set up their own civil service systems.
>> Separating the counties' collective-bargaining from the state's.
>> Having counties rather than the state decide whether they want to permit fireworks in their jurisdictions.
"I think certainly Honolulu has been caught in this antiquated bureaucracy of collective bargaining," Harris said.
He said that even though most of the police officers in the state work for the city, "we don't control the collective bargaining for police officers. The governor has in the past."
Harris described the situation as the tail wagging the dog.
"I think we could better tailor our civil service program and our collective-bargaining negotiations to our needs and right now we don't have that ability."
But not everyone agrees.
"The bargaining autonomy, I think in the past years, we didn't get a resounding support from the various counties," House Labor Chairman Marcus Oshiro (D, Wahiawa) said.
Randy Perreira, deputy executive director for the Hawaii Government Employees Association, also said that gaining more authority means shouldering more of the burden.
"So we don't know if the counties despite their desire for, 'home rule,' are actually willing and capable of taking on full autonomy in collective bargaining," Perreira said, "because that means having to raise the revenue themselves to deal with all the collective-bargaining costs."
Harris called the fireworks proposal "significant in its symbolism" because it goes to the heart of the home-rule issue.
"Clearly, we shouldn't be mandated to follow some state legislative decision on how to handle fireworks. After all, it's our police and fire that are responsible for being out there and dealing with the problem first hand," Harris said.
Arakawa agreed.
But a key state lawmaker said that the current fireworks law shouldn't be tinkered with.
"We don't want to go and revisit that again," said Sen. Cal Kawamoto (D, Waipahu), chairman of the Transportation, Military Affairs and Government Operations Committee.
Kawamoto said the problem with letting each county determine what they want to do with fireworks is that in the past fireworks from less restricted counties found their way to more restricted islands like Oahu.
At least one mayor agreed that the current law may be working.
"I tell you quite frankly, a lot of people on the county jurisdiction were happy to see the state take the load. They didn't want to make an unpopular decision," Hawaii County Mayor Harry Kim said.
Lingle said after her speech that she wanted to talk about other issues, including mass transit. She said she will be convening what could be called a transit summit with key decision makers.
"You need the (City) Council here in Honolulu along with the mayor along with legislators and myself. Sit down and reach a consensus and then go out to the public with a consensus approach."
Office of the Governor
