Organizers of a petition calling for a charter amendment regulating the use of pesticides and genetically modified crops on Kauai have until July 2 to have the required signatures validated.
The Kauai Rising Charter Amendment Petitioners’ Committee has been notified by Kauai County Clerk Ricky Watanabe that a petition submitted in late May was invalid. The petition did not include 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.
On May 29 the Elections Division began verifying 4,400 signatures collected by the organization, more than twice the number required. During that process it was discovered that Kauai Rising did not include the names of its designated and authorized committee members. The petition was rendered invalid.
"They could restart the process, but it’s a more compressed timeline now," Watanabe said.
The organization has until July 2 to submit 2,037 signatures. The figure is based on 5 percent of the 40,738 voters registered in the 2012 general election.
Committee Chairwoman Sandy Herndon said every member of the petitioners’ committee was included in the form. "What was missing was the verbiage authorizing us, the committee, to make changes that were necessary," she said. "It was a misinterpretation, and we acknowledge that that’s what happened."
The committee is collecting signatures and is optimistic it can collect the required amount.
"We’re up and running," Herndon said.
Under the proposed amendment, agribusinesses would need to prove their operations are safe and don’t pose a hazard to human health and the environment. It also would create an Office of Environmental Health to implement and enforce the provisions of the county ordinance requiring disclosure of pesticide and GMO use by large agribusinesses. It also calls for an administrator of the proposed environmental health office to be appointed by the council.
In addition to requiring disclosures pertaining to pesticide and GMO use, Ordinance 960 calls for implementation of buffer zones near schools, dwellings, medical facilities, public roadways and waterways.
