Posted on: Thursday, July 8, 2004
Mayoral veto issue may head for court
By Johnny Brannon
Advertiser Staff Writer
Mayor Jeremy Harris said he is prepared to go to court to enforce spending-related vetoes that City Council leaders hope to overturn next week.
Harris insists it's too late for the council to challenge his 11 line-item vetoes, which trimmed $703,000 from the council's budget and rejected various spending restrictions that he said were problematic and in some cases illegal.
But council Chairman Donovan Dela Cruz said he believes that the panel has until July 21 to overturn the vetoes and will likely take a vote on Wednesday.
Harris said he would go to court "right away" if any vetoes are overturned, and would seek a declaratory judgment.
"I don't see how they can possibly envision that an ordinance that's already in place can somehow be reversed after the fact," Harris said.
Harris believes that the council is too late because the new fiscal year covered by the budget began last Thursday. Dela Cruz believes that the council can try to overturn a veto up to 30 days after it was recorded, despite the fiscal calendar. The City Charter is not explicitly clear on which deadline trumps the other.
At least six of the council's nine votes would be required to overturn a veto, and such support is not certain. Dela Cruz said he hoped to persuade undecided members to follow his lead.
"There are members who definitely want to override," he said.
The vetoed restrictions would prevent the city from awarding a key recycling contract to a company that has been cited for various code violations, and would require the city to subsidize the operation of a popular private trolley that runs from Kaimuki to Waikiki. The restrictions would also ensure that several cultural and arts groups receive city money, but leave no money to run the city's art office.
Harris said the restrictions themselves are subject to legal challenge, as well as the veto deadline.
Reach Johnny Brannon at jbrannon@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8070.
