Capitol briefs
Advertiser Staff
Prison bill opposed by administration
The House Finance Committee last night postponed a decision on a bill that would require the governor to negotiate the development of a privately built correctional facility in Halawa, despite objections from the Lingle administration.
Former Gov. Ben Cayetano had begun negotiations with a private company to build and run a detention center in Halawa to replace the O'ahu Community Correctional Center in Kalihi. But the talks broke off before Cayetano left office.
House Bill 298 would continue the effort to build a private facility on undeveloped land near the Halawa Correctional Facility. The measure cites the high cost of sending inmates to Mainland facilities as the primary reason for a new facility.
But Public Safety Director James Propotnick told the Finance Committee yesterday that the bill would create a combined detention center and prison, where convicted felons would be housed with pretrial detainees and short-sentenced offenders. He said the new Halawa facility would not be able to house these inmates as well as those sent to the Mainland.
Propotnick also repeated that it is not in the best interest of the state to lock in one location for a new facility.
Bill favors 10 days of family-care leave
A bill moving through the Legislature would require companies that provide paid sick leave to allow their employees to use up to 10 of those days to care for other family members.
Existing law requires companies with 100 or more employees to allow up to four weeks a year of only unpaid sick leave upon the birth or adoption of a child, or to care for a reciprocal beneficiary, child, spouse or parent with a serious health condition.
The Lingle administration opposes House Bill 389, HD1. Labor Director Nelson Befitel told the House Finance Committee yesterday that most employers who can afford to provide paid family leave already do so and that it would be an economic burden to force the issue on those who can't.
The Hawai'i Chamber of Commerce submitted testimony warning that passing the legislation would not only add costs for employers, but foster Hawai'i's anti-business reputation.
Most unionized workers already are allowed to use paid sick leave for family leave. Union officials yesterday supported the measure, stating that employees should not be forced to decide between getting paid or caring for a loved one.
Lingle names pair to Cabinet team
Gov. Linda Lingle yesterday named former deputy state attorney general Janice T. Kemp as deputy director of the Department of Human Resources Development.
The governor also named Verizon Hawai'i resource management supervisor Colleen Y. LaClair deputy director of the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.
Kemp, who begins tomorrow, has worked for the state attorney general's office since 1987, working primarily on employment law and compliance with disabilities laws. She has served as counsel to the state departments of Health and Education, the Maui and Hawai'i County Civil Service Commissions, and the Judiciary.
LaClair has worked for Verizon Hawai'i for 25 years, working in the areas of human resources management, consumer affairs, customer relations and marketing. She begins her new position with the state March 10.
Senate bill urges Bush war restraint
State senators began a partisan debate in the Senate chambers yesterday over a resolution endorsed by 17 Democrats urging President Bush to refrain from attacking Iraq without the support of the United Nations.
Those who supported the resolution, including Democratic Sens. Carol Fukunaga, J. Kalani English and Gary Hooser, expressed concern about a unilateral attack and argued the country has yet to exhaust all efforts for peace.
But those who opposed the resolution, including Senate Minority Leader Fred Hemmings and Republican Sens. Sam Slom and Bob Hogue, said Americans should stand behind President Bush and support the American troops who are already on the front line.
Maine's House and Senate and Hawai'i's House are the highest-ranking elected bodies in the United States to register opposition to a possible war, though some members of Congress have opposed military action.
The proposed Senate resolution, which requires the review of at least one Senate committee, says the security of Hawai'i and the nation "are put into great jeopardy in the event the United states initiates a pre-emptive, non-United Nations backed war with Iraq."
On Feb. 4, the Democratic-controlled House approved on a 34-14 party-line vote a resolution condemning unilateral action by the United States in disarming Iraq and North Korea.
