Lingle wants advice on signing of bills

Advertiser Staff

With the adjourning of the legislative session Thursday, Gov. Linda Lingle yesterday said she will be seeking the opinions from her Cabinet as well as the public as she considers the more than 200 bills passed to her desk this year.

"I'm still actually looking at the process that we're going to use," she said. "Because this is my first time dealing with the process, I want to take my time as far as gathering public input, especially the bills that are controversial. Letters are already coming in ... and we want to have a real orderly process, talking to the opponents and proponents."

Lingle said the bills are circulated to all of her department directors and that she will also meet with House and Senate Republicans.

She said she hadn't decided whether she would veto legislation to establish a $10 monthly tax for a long-term-care program and restore binding arbitration to thousands of public workers, both measures that the administration testified against.

"Some people made some good points on the pro-arbitration side that I haven't really thought about," Lingle said of the floor discussion on the binding arbitration bill. "So sometimes the more you listen the more difficult the decisions become. I think if you're open-minded on all of these things you'll find that there are usually some very good points on both sides."