[ OUR OPINION ]
Council should stay
firm on traffic finesCITY Council members are making it amply clear that they won't be ignored by legislators, turning up the volume on their grievance that the state unfairly hogs the revenue from uncontested traffic fines.
THE ISSUE
A City Council committee has approved a bill to discount uncontested traffic fines and steer the revenue from the state to the city's treasury.
Good for them. The city -- as well as Hawaii's other county governments -- should get a share since their police departments bear the burden of issuing the citations and enforcing traffic laws. The Legislature should loosen its grip on the money.
For years, state lawmakers have turned a deaf ear to the counties' pleas for the revenue from traffic tickets that aren't disputed. For the city, the fines collected and funneled into state coffers are about $11 million a year, while the cost for the Honolulu Police Department to carry out traffic laws totals $21 million annually.
Frustrated, Council member Charles Djou has cleverly proposed that Honolulu follow the lead of cities in Minnesota that issue administrative citations in place of current tickets with fines that would be $10 less than amounts set by the state traffic code.
The Council believes that Honolulu drivers who are ticketed would choose to pay the discounted civil fine. That money would go to the city, not the state.
Governor Lingle and Maui, Kauai and Big Island leaders support transferring the revenue to the counties and in an unusual alliance with the Council, Mayor Harris does, too. The state judiciary, which processes uncontested tickets, is concerned about technical and operations problems. Such difficulties do not seem insurmountable. The judiciary also is concerned that its administrative costs wouldn't be reimbursed; in other words, it wants the money, too.
Legislative leaders indicate they will not allow the city's end run and that legal issues may stand in the way. However, the bill, which the Council advanced from committee this week, appears headed for approval.
The Legislature, the city and the other counties should work out a compromise. No one will benefit from a courtroom tussle. The request for revenue isn't unreasonable. The Council should not back down from this fight.
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Security justifies
new border checksHAWAII'S tourism industry faces an obstacle with a new requirement that visitors from Japan, Australia, New Zealand and 24 of America's other closest allies be photographed and digitally fingerprinted before entering the United States at airports or seaports. Nevertheless, the requirement is a reasonable compromise aimed at increasing security without forcing visitors from those countries to undergo U.S. Embassy interviews.
THE ISSUE
A requirement that visa-carrying foreign visitors be fingerprinted and photographed before entering the United States will be extended to visitors from visa-waiver countries.
The Bush administration asked Congress a week ago to postpone for two years the Patriot Act's October deadline for countries whose citizens may travel without visas to the United States to issue passports with biometric identifiers compatible with inkless fingerprinting and facial recognition technology. Concerns voiced in hearings before the Sept. 11 Commission make clear that the government cannot simply delay the biometric program without taking some security precautions to prevent terrorist attacks.
Citizens of Korea and the Philippines account for most of the 1,500 passengers arriving in Hawaii daily from foreign countries who since January have been subjected to facial photographs and digital scans of their index fingers. Visitors from those countries also are required to undergo consulate interviews and background checks, in addition to photos and fingerprinting, in order to obtain visas -- a much greater inconvenience.
By Sept. 30, the Department of Homeland Security will begin requiring the more than 4,000 passengers arriving daily in Hawaii from visa-waiver countries to submit to facial photos and inkless fingerprints. Travelers from those countries are allowed to enter the United States with only a passport, as long as they stay no more than 90 days. That will not change.
At least initially, some visa-carrying visitors were angered when subjected to the airport finger scans and photos at Honolulu Airport. Kyong Ha, a travel agent with Koreana Tour Service, said Korean visitors were "really, really mad," some saying they would never come to Hawaii again.
Dealing with such hostility will be a challenge for Hawaii tourism officials. They will need to make an extra effort to advise visitors that the checks are a necessary and unobtrusive method of ensuring them a safe vacation. Federal officials say the process takes only 23 seconds per person and should not create backlogs at U.S. airports or seaports.
