Debate leaves Kauai GMO petition in limbo

The Kauai County Council delayed action on a petition to regulate use of pesticides and genetically modified crops after a debate on whether the proposal is a charter amendment or an initiative to create an ordinance.

The issue threatens the petition because a charter amendment proposal needs only 5 percent of the voters to sign off while an initiative needs 20 percent.

The Council voted 3-3 Wednesday on a motion to receive the revised petition with 3,030 signatures collected by the group Kauai Rising.

Councilmen Tim Bynum and Gary Hooser voted in support of the motion while Councilwoman JoAnn Yukimura voted silent, which is considered an affirmative vote. Council Chairman Jay Furfaro and Councilmen Ross Kagawa and Mason Chock voted against the motion.

Councilman Mel Rapozo was excused from the meeting. Because of the tie vote due to the absence of a Council member, the seven-member Council will reconvene July 23 to resume discussion on the issue.

The deadline for the county Elections Division to submit charter amendment questions to the Office of Elections is Aug. 21.

Agribusinesses under the proposed amendment would need to prove their operations are safe and do not pose a hazard to human health and the environment. It also would create an Office of Environmental Health and an administrator to be appointed by the Council to implement and enforce provisions.

Kauai Rising restarted the petition process after County Clerk Ricky Watanabe notified the group that its first petition submitted in late May was invalid. He said the petition lacked the names of designated and authorized committee members in either the body of the petition or within the signature pages as required by the County Charter.

During Wednesday’s meeting, Deputy County Attorney Mona Clark, who presented an opinion requested by Watanabe on the proposed charter amendment, said, "It is an initiative, not a charter amendment." In her written opinion to Watanabe, Clark said, "The revised petition is primarily local legislation as it pertains to the county’s relationship with third parties and not the form and structure of county government."

Sandy Herndon, chairwoman of the Kauai Rising Charter Amendment Petitioners’ Committee, disagreed and testified the revised petition is a proposed charter amendment because it deals with the structure of government. After the meeting, Herndon said she believes the county attorney’s office is attempting to pre-empt the group’s efforts.

"I think there’s a lot of power and money coming from opponents of our charter amendment that are influencing these decisions," she said.

During the meeting, Furfaro said it appears the petition proposes to regulate activities of third parties, which makes it an initiative.

An initiative would require 8,148 signatures or 20 percent of the 40,738 registered voters in the 2012 election to place it on the ballot, compared with 2,037 signatures or 5 percent of registered voters required for a charter amendment.