A decision to expand the city’s contentious sit-lie law outside of Waikiki and into business sections of other Oahu neighborhoods is delayed until Friday to allow Honolulu City Council members more time to examine and research the latest draft they received Wednesday morning.

An internal Council rule specifies that a new draft of a bill must be held for 48 hours before a vote can be taken, unless six or more Council members choose to waive the rule.

In this case, four members said they want more time for themselves and the public to digest Bill 48’s latest draft, which folds additional portions of three Council districts — in East Honolulu, McCully-Moiliili and Chinatown — into the ever-growing bill.

If approved and signed by Mayor Kirk Caldwell, the measure would ban lying or sitting down on public sidewalks from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. in business-commercial areas of more than a dozen Oahu neighborhoods. The bill was introduced largely in response to approval in September of Caldwell’s "sit-lie" ban for Waikiki. City officials said they are able to justify maintaining a 24-hour ban in Waikiki because visitors are being served by businesses there around the clock.

Some supporters of Bill 48 say it’s necessary to ensure that homeless who have occupied Waikiki sidewalks don’t end up in front of their businesses as a result of the Waikiki prohibition.

Howard Lum, president of nonprofit group Lum Sai Ho Tong, said a noticeable increase in people camping on sidewalks has already occurred in the River Street section of Chinatown, where the 126-year-old cultural society draws visitors to its temple and stores.

Increasingly, visitors arriving on tour buses are stepping out, visiting the shrine and immediately walking back into their buses instead of venturing around the neighborhood to shop, Lum said.

"They’re too scared to traverse the area," he said.

Several other Chinatown leaders also testified in favor of the bill. But their voices competed with those in a larger group of homeless individuals and human rights advocates who argued that rather than solving the problem, the plan would make it harder for the disadvantaged to get help.

Queinittra "Queenie" Toilolo said she was a hardworking, productive person in the community when unforeseen circumstances left her on the streets. She and her partner were able to get help from a West Oahu transitional shelter and eventually found permanent housing.

"But there are so many, many more people who aren’t as lucky as me and my partner," she said. "They’re out there, and criminalizing them will not solve nothing."

Toilolo said while working at the shelter part time, she met families of people "from all walks of life" who faced the same predicament she did. "The problem is that there’s no room and (the shelters) are forced to turn people away a lot of the times."

Two of the four Council members asking for extra time — Brandon Elefante and Kymberly Pine — have indicated they intend to vote against the bill, while a third, Joey Manahan, said he simply wants a chance to read the language.

The fourth, original bill author Ron Menor, has warned repeatedly that additional areas added into the bill by his colleagues could make the measure unconstitutional unless people step forward to specify a need for a sit-lie ban in their neighborhoods. Menor said legal experts have told him that people in the community need to show the harm caused by sidewalk blockage in order for the bill to meet constitutional muster.

"All we’ve got to do is contact our constituents and ask them to submit letters," Menor said. "The fact is I look at the bill that’s before us and there’s still a significant number of areas in which no testimony has been submitted. The courts that have ruled on this particular issue or similar kinds of measures have made it very clear: The bill needs to have a rational basis, which means demonstrating a need."

Council members supporting the bill said they were surprised by the request for more time, pointing out that the draft simply lumped together the language from three posted draft versions of the measure.

Council Chairman Ernie Martin told members that they could defer the vote until their December meeting or hold a special meeting before then just to vote on the one bill, but said his preference was to wrap up the matter Friday. Members voted 9-0 to continue the hearing until noon Friday.

No oral testimony will be taken at the meeting, which essentially is a continuation of Wednesday’s calendar.