Let’s talk law-making for a moment.

If you could pass any new law at the county level, what would that be?

Seriously: All four Hawai‘i counties have, embedded in their County Charter a citizen’s right to initiative and referendum

This means citizens can gather signatures and propose new laws or charter amendments. These proposals would then be placed on the ballot and voted on by residents of the county.

If a majority vote yes, then voila! The new law is passed (whether the mayor or the council like it or not).

The requirements (required number of signatures from registered voters, etc) for citizen legislators can be found within the county charter itself, a copy of which can be found on the county’s official website. The Civil Beat featured an excellent over-view of the process “Use The County Initiative Process To Create Change In Hawaii”.

There are limits as to the scope and nature of proposed ordinances or charter amendments. State and federally regulated areas of law are of course off limits.

In general proposed county initiatives may not impact the county’s budget, taxes, salaries, or collective bargaining contracts. In addition the courts have basically ruled existing private property rights may not be taken away. New up-zoning conditions may be proposed and passed, but properties may not be downzoned and existing rights to build utilizing existing zoning may not be taken away.

My hope is to get the “hive mind” fully engaged in this discussion and develop some truly innovative, systemic, change-maker ideas. Please let me know your thoughts (short and succinct please) and I’ll share them here in a future column.

To get the creative juices flowing below are five ideas for discussion. Before anyone gets their knickers in a knot, please remember these are only rough ideas intended to generate more ideas and ultimately a thorough legal vetting of a proposal (or proposals).

1) No new resort or new commercial zoning shall be granted unless such proposals also include the construction of a sufficient amount of permanently affordable housing (insert definition) necessary for the amount of employees the resort or commercial enterprise will need to operate.

2) The processing of all county permits necessary for the construction of affordable housing (insert definition) shall take precedence over all others except those needed to protect the public’s health and safety.

3) Any herbicide, fungicide, algicide or pesticide, that has been determined in a court of law to cause or significantly contribute to causing cancer or any life threatening illness may not be used on any county owned property. (Maui and Hawaii County already have bans on glyphosate and other herbicides in place)

4) No county council nor any board or commission member may vote on any matter upon which they have not read and reviewed the public testimony. (IYKYK)

5) No new county permits of any kind may be granted to any entity which utilizes explosive materials, or manufactures, sells, or tests items designed or intended to kill or harm human beings, or trains human beings to kill other human beings. (#stoppohakuloa #reducethefootprint)

To be successful a proposal must first resonate with enough people to gather the sufficient signatures. This means it must propose important changes that represent systemic change and are easy for the voters to understand. AND some creativity is required for “work arounds” that may be needed to deal with the limitations – county law only, no spending money, and no private property rights take-aways.

The potential to create systemic change using this tool is huge, but the work needed to make it happen is also significant. If you’re serious – READ THE COUNTY CHARTER for details on what it takes to place an initiative on the ballot.

The plans is pretty basic: We collectively come up with the language for up to 5 compelling initiatives that will withstand basic legal scrutiny, float them within each County to see if there’s interest among voters, and then assemble citizen teams to gather the signatures and make it happen.

Let’s do it.

Gary Hooser