According to his initial read, said state Attorney General Mark Bennett, a vacancy can be triggered only by death, incapacitation, resignation or possibly a criminal conviction.

The question likely would have to be settled by the House, Bennett said in an interview yesterday.

House Vice Speaker Sylvia Luke said the Democratic House leadership doesn't believe anything in state law says military deployment would trigger a vacancy.

That opinion appears to be backed up by Bennett, who has not issued an official opinion. "My off-the-cuff response to that, without doing any legal research, is that someone being out of state and not showing up is not what the statute contemplated," Bennett said.

State laws say a vacancy in the House of Representatives must be filled by the governor within 60 days with someone from the same party.

Gov. Linda Lingle said what she knew about Tamayo's case came from news reports. "I really don't have a position on it right now," she said.

Lingle said she was not familiar with the legal issues involved and did not expect the administration to make any attempts to clarify the situation or ask what options were available to the state.

"I would expect only if the Office of Elections or the State House make a request to the attorney general, then I'm certain he'll deal with it right away. But we won't be making any requests to them."

Tamayo faces challenges from three other Democrats and a Republican for her 42nd House District seat, covering portions of Waipahu, 'Ewa and West Loch.

House lawyers do not believe there is a vacancy in the seat now, or that there will be one any time before Tamayo's current term ends Nov. 2, the date of the next general election, Luke said yesterday.

Tamayo, a specialist in the National Guard, gave a brief statement to The Advertiser yesterday but declined to answer questions.

"I need to do what I have to do as far as finding out all the right information," she said. "I will be doing everything right, but I just need a little time because a lot of information needs to be gathered."

Luke pointed out the case of Pennsylvania state Sen. John Pippy, a Republican elected to the Pennsylvania House while on active duty in 2003. He did not serve at the legislature until he returned home this year, and neither he nor a proxy took any legislative votes during his deployment.

State law bars Tamayo from withdrawing from the race, except for medical reasons, 24 hours after the July 20 filing deadline for elective office.

Tamayo has said she would like to be re-elected and that she is working with Say on a way to cast votes during deployment.

While her unit has not been called to active duty, Tamayo volunteered to be transferred to a unit attached to the 29th Separate Infantry Brigade, which is being deployed to Iraq. Tamayo said she couldn't remember when she made the transfer request. She filed her campaign nomination papers July 13.