Track legislative bills on Web

By Burt Lum

There are times, albeit rare, that I will track a bill or resolution through the legislative process. It's a process that can be time consuming, confusing and depending on the bill itself, wrought with controversy. Nevertheless, it can be quite interesting.

For my choice this year, I picked House Concurrent Resolution 65: Drafted by Sen. Jonathan Chun, D-7th (South Kaua'i, Ni'ihau), it urged the Navy to "maintain its initiative and responsibility to clear Kaho'olawe of unexploded ordnance beyond the date it is currently scheduled to be turned over to the State."

The best place to get online information on the bill or resolution is at www.capitolhawaii.gov. Select "Status and Documents" and from there you can get full text versions and status of resolutions, in my case HCR65.

Although access to the Web is instantaneous, the information posted on the Web is only as current as what's made available by the maintainer of the Web site. On the state's site, I found up-to-the-minute status sorely lacking.

At this point, I left the comfort of my Internet connection and experienced the process of attending hearings, testifying and calling elected officials. My experience with HCR65 was classic. The final hearing of the resolution was scheduled for 1 p.m., but then was moved to 5 p.m. This can be problematic if the plan is to stage a massive show of support.

The few of us who showed up testified in favor, including Keoni Fairbanks of the Kaho'olawe Island Reserve Commission (www.hawaii.gov/kirc). In fact, all written and verbal testimony was in favor of the resolution. The Navy (www.hawaii.navy.mil) made phone calls opposing the resolution.

Many calls were made to committee chairs Sens. Chun and Cal Kawamoto, D-19th (Waipahu, Pearl City). The Protect Kaho'olawe 'Ohana (www.kahoolawe.org) waged an e-mail campaign showing support.

At the end of the day, however, Kawamoto deferred the resolution, effectively killing it. The future remains uncertain for Kaho'olawe. Whether it is cleared of ordnance, the Navy will return it to the state in 2003. ;-)

Reach Burt Lum at burt@brou haha.net.