Many issues
compete for attentionBills legislators must consider
range from big time to manini
The issues found in nearly 3,000 bills introduced in the House and Senate this year, as in every other year, range from the magnificent to the mundane.
Gaining the most attention are efforts to reform the public school system, confront illegal drug use and balance a $3.3 billion budget for the next fiscal year in the face of uncertain tax revenues.
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State Legislature: Bills
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Important to their advocates and of concern to their opponents are several hundred other measures advancing through the legislative process with little public or news media notice.
For example, the Senate Committee on Water, Land and Agriculture wants $25,000 to have the state study shark activity along Oahu's Leeward Coast "by tagging them and monitoring their movements."
It is because of "growing incidents of shark attacks in this state," the committee said.
The House Committee on Water, Land Use and Hawaiian Affairs, meanwhile, has approved and sent to the Judiciary Committee a bill to correct an error in state law that describes the Great Seal of the State "by clarifying that: Kamehameha I is standing on the left side and the Goddess of Liberty is on the right side."
Those popular retail gift certificates people buy for family and friends would no longer expire after two years under a measure approved by the Senate Consumer Protection Committee. The exception would be gift certificates issued as a donation to a nonprofit organization.
The Senate's Education and Military Affairs committees have the military in mind in three bills. One would give companies that employ National Guard or military reservists an income tax credit equal to 5 percent of each qualified employee's annual pay up to $1,000.
It recognizes that the increase in the number of guardsmen and reservists being deployed imposes hardships on their employers by decreasing their work force, the committees said.
The committees also want an unspecified appropriation, initially put at $1 million, to be used for tuition assistance for National Guard members enrolled at the University of Hawaii as an incentive to remain in the Guard.
In what could be seen as a somewhat tardy effort to "demonstrate this state's commitment to the men and women who serve in the military," the committees also approved a tuition waiver at the University of Hawaii for veterans of the Vietnam War, which ended 29 years ago.
Two House committees, meanwhile, also showed support for today's military, approving a bill to authorize special vehicle license plates for veterans of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom.
One bill that has attracted some news media attention is about the news media and was introduced by a former member of the news media, Rep. Glenn Wakai (D, Moanalua Valley-Salt Lake).
The House Labor Committee approved the bill to outlaw individual broadcast employee contracts with provisions limiting that employee from seeking a better job in the same market.
These "noncompete" provisions prevent "young, talented, local individuals" from taking advantage of "marketable talent worthy of earning the best compensation packages," the committee said.
During House debate on the bill on Friday, Republican lawmakers argued that the state should not meddle in private employment contracts.
The Senate Science, Arts and Technology Committee has reopened the effort to restore the historic Waikiki Natatorium, a 100-meter saltwater swimming pool built in 1927 as a memorial to World War I veterans and closed in 1980 because of deteriorating conditions.
In 2000 the city's $4.4 million restoration of the natatorium's facade and rebuilding of the restrooms was completed, but restoration of the tide-fed pool was stalled by politics, lawsuits and health concerns.
The committee proposed $3 million in state bonds be used to support the city in completing the renovation of the pool so "the natatorium will once again become a popular venue for national as well as international water-related sporting events which will generate significant revenue for the state."
Some other bills getting little notice include:
>> Making hazing of students in schools and colleges a misdemeanor, subject to a maximum penalty of one year in jail and a $5,000 fine.
>> Enforcing an individual's right of privacy from intrusion by cellular telephones equipped with digital cameras.
>> Giving public school teachers a tax credit of up to $500 as a retention incentive and to compensate them for out-of-pocket purchases of supplies for their students.
>> Restricting Hawaii's courts from approving adoptions involving Marshallese children without prior approval of the courts in the Republic of the Marshall Islands.
