Veto of ice bill is overridden
By Lynda Arakawa and Gordon Y.K. Pang
Advertiser Capitol Bureau
State lawmakers last night voted to override Gov. Linda Lingle's veto of a bill aimed at battling the crystal methamphetamine problem in Hawai'i, just hours after receiving the governor's veto message.
The measure, House Bill 2003, was part of a two-bill package that emerged from the Democrat-led legislative task force on ice and was described as a comprehensive plan that toughened criminal penalties and promoted substance-abuse treatment.
The House voted 35-13 and the Senate voted 19-4 to override Lingle's veto. Republicans opposed the override.
Lingle decided to let the second task force bill, which appropriates $14.7 million to expand drug treatment, prevention and other programs, become law without her signature. But she said that the measure, House Bill 2004, disregards "sound budgeting principles" and that she can't say whether she will release all the money until she sees the state's entire budget plan.
Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona, the administration's point man on the ice issue, said he agreed with certain portions of the bill, including provisions to increase prison sentences for those who manufacture drugs with a child present; to make it easier to prosecute those who sell drug paraphernalia; and to require that health insurance plans offer the same level of benefits for substance abuse as they do for other illnesses.
But those items were outweighed by other objectionable provisions, Aiona said. For example, he said, the bill would reduce current penalties for manufacturing ice and make the penalty for manufacturing small quantities of ice less than the penalty for manufacturing other drugs.
Aiona also objected to a provision that allows judges to sentence a first-time, nonviolent drug offender to treatment rather than prison, even if the person has repeated convictions of non-drug crimes.
Senate Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs Committee Chairwoman Colleen Hanabusa, D-21st (Nanakuli, Makaha), defended the bill, saying the measure has tough provisions that target ice offenders. Under the bill, penalties for manufacturing or distributing ice include minimum prison terms ranging from three to five years and longer if someone is hurt or killed or the offender has prior felony drug convictions. Current crystal meth offenses have mandatory minimum terms of up to 10 years, with ice manufacturers getting a 10-year mandatory minimum term.
Hanabusa said she believed the provisions surrounding first-time drug offender treatment struck a good balance, noting that treatment advocates were also unhappy with how the bill changed the current law to allow, rather than mandate, treatment instead of prison for first-time offenders.
In arguing for a veto on the House floor, House Judiciary Chairman Eric Hamakawa, D-3rd (Hilo, Kea'au, Mountain View), criticized Lingle and Aiona for having little to show after holding a series of community meetings last year. "The administration has nothing but a plan to do more planning," Hamakawa said. He said the Legislature's plan represents "a concrete plan to fight the ice epidemic."
Aiona said ad hoc committees are refining recommendations from his drug summit last fall, and his drug liaison is forming a coordinating council to gather stakeholders on the issue. He also said the administration has found federal money to expand youth programs, is working on developing an afterschool program for middle schools, and is creating an educational plan that may begin in September.
House Minority Leader Galen Fox, R-23rd (Waikiki, Ala Moana, Kaka'ako), called the bill "fake reform" and "a bluff on the subject of being tough on the crackdown on ice."
The House and Senate last night also overrode Lingle's veto of House Bill 1797, which allows therapeutically certified optometrists to prescribe therapeutic drugs for eye illnesses.
Lingle, meanwhile, allowed the $3.6 billion state budget bill, House Bill 1800, to become law without her signature despite some concerns. She criticized the Democratic leadership for rushing through the budget bill without seeing the whole fiscal picture of the state.
"There are a lot of good things in this budget bill but I won't be signing it because it doesn't represent sound budgeting," Lingle said.
The governor had earlier threatened to veto the budget unless several provisions were restored. A House-Senate conference committee earlier yesterday took care of some of those concerns in what Lingle described as a "fix-it" bill, Senate Bill 1491, including the restoration of 45 to 48 vacant positions that are paid for through federal sources.
In another key change, the committee agreed to let the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs continue to be self-reliant by means of a special account known as the compliance resolution fund. Lawmakers had already approved Senate Bill 2525 eliminating the fund, a move that would net lawmakers about $31 million to help balance the general fund budget. But Lingle, earlier this week, vetoed a bill that paved the way for elimination of the fund.
Senate Ways and Means Chairman Brian Taniguchi, D-10th (Manoa, McCully), said it appeared there were not enough votes in the Senate to override that veto.
Taniguchi told reporters that yesterday's conference committee approval of another bill, Senate Bill 420, would allow lawmakers to "raid" about $10 million from the compliance resolution fund. That would leave legislators with a "hole" in its financial plan of about $20 million.
Meanwhile, Lingle said she was exercising a line-item veto on House Bill 2743, which calls for raiding $43.6 million from various special funds. Under the partial veto, some $17.2 million would be restored, including $12.5 million from the highway fund. Lingle said that raid amounted to a loss of $50 million because money in that account is matched 4-to-1 by federal sources.
The governor also said she'll let House Bill 2796, a raid of $9.6 million from the Rainy Day Fund, become law without her signature.
