Posted at 11:15 a.m., Thursday, June 21, 2001

Governor vetoes bill raising sex consent age

By Kevin Dayton
Advertiser Capitol Bureau Chief

Gov. Ben Cayetano has vetoed a bill that would have raised the age at which minors can legally consent to sex in Hawai'i from 14 years old to 16.

Democratic House leaders today were discussing the possibility of a veto override and the override idea appears to have some influential supporters.

House Human Services Committee Chairman Mike Kahikina, D-43rd (Barbers Pt.-Wai'anae-Ma'ili) said he will urge an override, and House Democratic Majority Leader Marcus Oshiro and Vice Speaker Sylvia Luke agreed to support that effort, Kahikina said.

"It's very disappointing that the governor does not support trying to protect young girls from being victimized," Kahikina said. "We've never done that to the governor before, but in this case, we're talking about young children."

Kelly Rosati, executive director of the Hawaii Family Forum, also said she will ask lawmakers to override Cayetano's veto.

"I'm very disappointed in the governor's action and we think its an affront to all the parents and concerned citizens who demanded action this session to protect Hawai'i's minor from adult sexual predators," Rosati said.

If lawmakers were to override Cayetano's veto, that it would be the first veto override in more than 40 years. The age of consent bill, House Bill 236, appears to be a good candidate for an override effort because it was unanimously approved in both the House and the Senate.

In cases where 14- and 15-year olds have sex with a person who is at least five years older than the minors, the bill would have allowed the adult offenders to be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison.

Cayetano's office had not yet released a statement at press time explaining the reasons for the veto, but he has expressed reservations about the bill in the past.

The bill was publicly criticized by some prosecutors including Honolulu Prosecutor Peter Carlisle, but Kahikina said lawmakers were able to answer the prosecutors' concerns in a compromise late in the session.

Kahikina complained that prosecutors indicated to lawmakers late in the session that the bill was acceptable, but then lobbied the governor to convince him to veto the measure. Kahikina said that apparent turnabout by the prosecutors "leaves a bad taste."