Gov. Linda Lingle said today that she does not want the Legislature this session to take up a bill to approve civil unions in Hawaii. She said it is a measure that is worth discussing in future years.

“But in the middle of the biggest economic crisis in Hawaii’s history, it is a most inappropriate bill to take up this year,” Lingle said. “They should put it on the side.”
A bill that would have allowed for civil unions failed to advance through the Legislature. In February, thousands of people representing a host of local churches descended on the state Capitol to protest House Bill 444. The protest was organized by the Hawai'i Family Forum, headed by former state Rep. Dennis Arakaki.
Lingle said she instead prefers to discuss job creation.
“That’s what I’m going to do in my state of the state,” she said. “That’s going to be the crux of our package that we’re going to bring down to the Legislature this year is how do we create a better business climate so people will invest, what can we do to help businesses create more jobs? How can we deal with the unemployment insurance tax increase early on in the session and get that done right away so these very high rates don’t go into effect on April 1. And how do we get our economy back on track, that’s what I want to focus on this session.”