• 2004 session of the Legislature 2004 session of the Legislature Today a new chapter is being written in the governance of Hawai’i with the opening of the 2004 session of the Legislature. Kaua’i’s House members Ezra Kanoho, Bertha Kawakami
• 2004 session of the Legislature
2004 session of the Legislature
Today a new chapter is being written in the governance of Hawai’i with the opening of the 2004 session of the Legislature.
Kaua’i’s House members Ezra Kanoho, Bertha Kawakami and Mina Morita, and sole Senator, Gary Hooser, are geared up for a session scheduled to go on into mid-spring.
The big social issues appear to be education reform and how to handle control and treatment of drug abuse. The major fiscal issue is a hot one – should the county raise the state excise tax in Kaua’i County tto bring more dollars into their coffers.
Other issues affecting Kaua’i residents will be what to do with the gasoline price cap created during the administration of former Governor Ben Cayetano, long-term care funding and calls for a ban of fishing along sections of Kaua’i’s shoreline.
The Legislators are meeting with county representatives this week in forging their agendas.
Changes happening this year are part of a recent trend that is changing state government in Hawai’i perhaps more than any era since statehood was announced in 1959.
A big part of this change is having a two-party system in place and functioning. While the Legislature is controlled by the Democratic Party, as it has been mostly since statehood, the executive chamber is in the hands of the Hawai’i GOP.
This rebalancing of the political scales started to show some change in the direction of the Legislature last year.
Democratic leaders continued to tightly control the direction of the Legislature in the previous session, with Gov. Linda Lingle, a Republican, spending a year of learning the ropes in dealing with the Legislature. Though Lingle’s issues and projects weren’t at the top of the Democratic Legislative wish list in 2003, the fact she won the election against a Hawai’i Democratic Party leader showed her call for change should set the tone for the session, causing Democrats to react in how they presented bills and plans for the future.
With a general election looming this fall, it should be a year of action in both the House and Senate. The Democratic members of the Legislature have a challenge in continuing along the traditional agendas of their parties, while attempting to show things are changing.
Issues outside of the State Capitol are also affecting Legislative politics.
Hawai’i’s economy is taking off with a strong upswing in job creation, a strong recovery of the visitor industry following the downturn caused by the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
How our governor, and our Legislature, handle the change Hawai’i needs in fighting drug abuse, in providing affordable housing, in improving our schools and other areas ripe for change will determine what happens in the fall elections.
Look for a lively Legislative session and a general election that will point the direction of Hawai’i’ political future.
