Garret Hashimoto of the Hawaii Christian Coalition dubbed it another "People’s Filibuster."
Thousands of religious conservatives, taking full advantage of the state House’s commitment to hear from everyone on gay marriage, have deliberately sought to prolong a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee and the House Finance Committee.
People have been told to use the entire two minutes they have each been allotted, and while many have shared heartfelt words and intellectual arguments, others have plainly tried to stall — repetitively reading the same talking points, singing, reciting prayers or simply speaking very slowly — often turning the hearing into a spectacle.
"Everyone should be heard," Hashimoto said.
The unprecedented hearing — which had lasted 51 hours as of 9 p.m. Monday and had spanned four days — might conclude today if lawmakers get through the list of the 5,184 people who had signed up. Late Monday, lawmakers were listening to people who had missed their first opportunity to speak and were given a second chance.
Stalling tactics by gay-marriage opponents are in the same spirit as the "People’s Filibuster" that happened in Texas in June, when abortion rights advocates who had packed the Texas Senate’s gallery shouted down a Republican-led effort to pass an abortion bill before a special session expired. The maneuver, widely praised across the nation, came after Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis, a Democrat, had conducted a 13-hour filibuster to try to block the abortion restrictions.
The Texas Senate ended up passing the abortion bill in July, but the legislation is being challenged in federal court.
Hashimoto has hinted that gay-marriage opponents are preparing to flood the state Capitol on Thursday, when the House could take a vote on the marriage equality bill.
Rep. Marcus Oshiro (D, Wahiawa-Whitmore-Poamoho), who opposes gay marriage, and several other lawmakers have egged on the religious faithful, telling them as they waited in line to testify that they have a First Amendment right to be heard. Oshiro set up a table near the entrance to the Capitol auditorium with a small sign that read, "Ask Me."
But the House and Senate do not have any specific rules that govern public testimony. The state Constitution only requires that committee meetings held for the purpose of decision-making be open to the public.
House rules state that committees, where practicable, hold meetings at times and places that are convenient for the public to attend. The rules also set public notice requirements. No bill can be reported out of committee without a public hearing.
Individual committee chairmen, however, have the discretion to set their own guidelines on accepting public testimony.
Rep. Karl Rhoads (D, Chinatown-Iwilei-Kalihi), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, and Rep. Sylvia Luke (D, Punchbowl-Pauoa-Nuuanu), chairwoman of the House Finance Committee, said at the outset of the hearing Thursday that they would give everyone who had signed up by the deadline two minutes to speak.
Under pressure from House lawmakers who oppose the bill, Rhoads and Luke agreed Friday to allow anyone who was not present when their names were called to testify after everyone else had been allowed to speak.
Hashimoto and several pastors — including Allen Cardines Jr. of Hope Chapel Nanakuli, Mike Lwin of New Hope Leeward and Elwin Ahu of New Hope Metro — used that opportunity to rally opponents who had signed up to come out to the Capitol, even appealing to people to testify by proxy for those who could not show up in order to waste time.
On Monday morning Luke announced that the committees had tightened screening procedures after several irregularities, including some people whose testimony registration numbers did not match their names.
Luke said photo identification would be enforced and that people would not be allowed to give proxy testimony for people who were not present.
The House leadership coalition has made transparency a theme, but the unprecedented nature of the hearing may prompt some reflection once the special session is over.
Rhoads has said that he does not regret the decision to hear from everyone, noting that it is his usual practice as House Judiciary Committee chairman to give people two minutes each to speak on bills.
Luke, however, conducts her House Finance Committee hearings differently.
"The way I run my hearings, this would not have happened," Luke told reporters. "The way I run my hearings is if there’s duplication — if people are saying the same thing — I would automatically cut it off."
Luke said that at this point in the gay marriage hearing, "90 percent of the information is duplicative, but we made a commitment to hear testimony because this is a serious issue, and this is important for a lot of people.
"We’re allowing as many people to testify as much as we can. And that’s why we want to stress again: Please refrain from trading numbers, because that doesn’t help the process. I think we’ve shown good will, and we are here to hear the public, but if people are trying to get other people — or trying to testify on behalf of other people — then that kind of defeats the whole purpose of having this hearing."
Oshiro, in a memo Monday to Luke and Rhoads, questioned their choice to ask people for valid identification before testifying and to restrict testimony by proxy, since no House rule covers such requirements.
"I have grave concerns that these reports, if found accurate, taints the fairness of these proceedings and taints the validity of any committee action resulting from them," Oshiro wrote.
