• Reconsider beach liability decision • County needs to enforce rules Reconsider beach liability decision We are very disappointed with the decision of the new House Judiciary chair who chose not to extend limited liability protection for counties and county
• Reconsider beach liability decision • County needs to enforce rules
Reconsider beach liability decision
We are very disappointed with the decision of the new House Judiciary chair who chose not to extend limited liability protection for counties and county water safety officers. We appreciate and honor the work of our county water safety officers and tried as a team, along with other legislators, to convince the House Judiciary chair to extend the sunset.
The best outcome that we could get was a revision to the state tort liability law that requires the state attorney general to represent the county and county water safety officers at state beach parks in the event of a lawsuit. The Senate approved this compromise last week.
The new House Judiciary chair believes that just as the county provides liability protection to police officers and firefighters who are county employees, the county should continue to provide liability protection to lifeguards under existing liability insurance policies. The Judiciary chair does not believe that the state of Hawaii should provide additional liability coverage to only one subgroup of first responders who are employed by the counties. We respectfully disagree with this point of view.
We regret that the men and women who guard our county beaches and risk their lives every day will not have the existing level of indemnification. We urge Gov. Ige to sign SB No. 562 SD1 HD1 to ensure our water safety officers at Ke‘e Beach and the County of Kauai are represented by the state attorney general in the event of a lawsuit.
State Reps. Dee Morikawa, Nadine Nakamura and James Tokioka
County needs to enforce rules
In Sunday’s (April 23) TGI business section, there was a brief article entitled, “County shuts down illegal rental.”
The brief mentioned that the county shut down an illegal rental in Kilauea. The county’s action is a good thing if it wants tohelp alleviate the housing crisis on Kauai.
To this date, the only TVZs are located in Princeville, Kapaa and Poipu. The county needs to enforce this rule. The currenthousing crisis is partially caused not by vacation rentals but by the inaction of the county to enforce their own rules. There isno grandfather clause that allows vacation rentals in Haena, Hanalei, Moloaa, Anahola, Lihue, Kalaheo, Hanapepe, Kekaha, etc.
David Giuliano, Princeville
