Well we lost.
SB3202 passed. The vote was very close – The House of Representatives voted 29 in support and 22 in opposition. In the Senate there were 9 Noes and 16 in the affirmative.
Vote translation: We needed only 4 additional No votes in the House or the Senate and SB3202 would have been defeated.
Here’s a SB3202 status report and here’s a list of those who agreed SB3202 was a bad bill, not ready for prime time, and who stood up against House/Senate leadership and voted in opposition. It’s an interesting mix of legislators from all walks of life and all islands – except Kaua’i.
Representative(s) Belatti, Chun, Cochran, Garrett, Hashem, Holt, Hussey-Burdick, Ichiyama, Kapela, Kobayashi, Kong, Marten, Matayoshi, Nishimoto, Onishi, Perruso, Poepoe, Quinlan, Sayama, Takayama, Takenouchi, Ward voting no (22)
Senator(s) Awa, DeCoite, Elefante, Fevella, Fukunaga, Ihara, Inouye, Kim, Rhoads voting No (9)
If you agree that a No vote was the right vote, and your Senator or Representative is on this list – please send them a note to say thank you!
Notice no Kaua’i legislator is listed.
Of course Wailua/Lihue/Puhi Rep Luke Evslin is essentially the main sponsor of SB3202’s content and is leading the charge to pass it. The other 3 from Kauai have been largely silent on the issue.
It still amazes me
.
SB3202 significantly disempowers the Kaua’i Planning Commission, transferring power of subdivision approval in rural districts completely to one single person, the Kaua’i Planning Director – and yet apparently no one informed the Planning Commission this was happening, no one asked for their opinion, nor did any of Commissioner testify on the issue.
The Kaua’i Planning Director testified in support but it seems the Planning Commissioners themselves had no clue their power and authority was at risk of being significantly diminished – or if they knew they chose to be silent.
I’ll be writing more about all of this in the future but wanted to get this update and vote count to you asap.
Sincerely,
Gary Hooser
NOTE: I sent this out as a mass email last week but just realized I forgot to post it here. If you want to receive my email on a regular basis please subscribe – Policy & Politics at https://policy-and-politics.mailchimpsites.com
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