Ige confronts last-minute bill signing, veto decisions

Gov. David Ige has until midnight Tuesday to veto any bills approved by the state Legislature that have technical flaws or fail to pass muster with his departments. Some 20 measures still pending action by the governor will become law either with or without his signature to finally close out official activities related to the 2015 session of the state Legislature.

Ige has said he plans to veto bills that would have created a new criminal offense of sex trafficking and to allow University of Hawaii graduate students to unionize to bargain for better wages and working conditions. Ige also announced he plans to veto a half-dozen other measures because of various legal or technical problems.

Ige isn’t saying yet how he will handle high-profile measures to extend the half-percent excise tax surcharge for rail by five years, and to create a statewide network of dispensaries to distribute medical marijuana. Ige won’t veto the bills, but it is unclear whether he will sign them to demonstrate his personal support for the new laws or will let them take effect without attaching his name to them.

Ige announced June 29 that he was considering or planning to veto eight bills, but as of Monday had not announced whether he has officially rejected any of the measures.

So far Ige has signed 230 new laws approved by the Legislature this year.

Bills still hanging in the balance include:

» The sex trafficking bill, which was opposed by three of the four county prosecutors in Hawaii. Hono­­lulu Prosecutor Keith Kane­­shiro contends the bill would make it difficult or impossible to prosecute prostitutes for the less serious offense of soliciting prostitution, and state Attorney General Doug Chin said allowing the bill to become law might prevent the successful prosecution of offenses involving sex trafficking of some juveniles.

Ige said he is committed to combating sex trafficking but agreed with Kane­shiro that the bill as written would eliminate the possibility of prosecuting some lower-level offenses. Ige says he will have Chin work with the Hono­­lulu prosecutor to draft a bill to strengthen laws regarding sex trafficking and allow for more aggressive prosecutions.

Advocates who want to create a new offense of sex trafficking to prosecute pimps say they will continue to press the issue at the Legislature next year.

» The excise tax surcharge extension, which Ige has signaled he will allow. The additional five years will cover the Hono­­lulu rail project’s estimated $910 million shortfall. Ige hasn’t said whether he will sign the measure, but was initially skeptical of the need for the bill, saying he wanted to know more about why the city needs authority to extend the excise surcharge now.

The Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation provided Ige’s administration with data explaining how the city ended up with a potential shortfall of $910 million after construction bids came in higher than expected. Ige then announced he was satisfied the city was facing a cash shortfall and that the bill extending the surcharge will provide the necessary money.

The half-percent excise surcharge is scheduled to end in 2022, and the new law will extend it until 2027 to raise additional money to complete the rail line from East Kapo­­lei to Ala Moana Center. The measure also allows the neighbor island counties to impose a similar half-percent excise tax surcharge provided they act by July 1, 2016.

» The establishment of Hawaii’s first medical marijuana dispensaries. Lawmakers approved the measure 15 years after medical marijuana was made legal under state law. Patients with a marijuana prescription or their caregivers have either had to grow their own marijuana or rely on the black market to obtain their supplies.

The dispensaries law will allow up to 16 outlets across the state to be established to distribute medical marijuana, with the first dispensaries allowed to open as early as July 2016.

» Bargaining power for UH graduate students. Ige has said he intends to veto a bill to allow UH students employed as part- and full-time graduate assistants to collectively bargain for wages and other benefits. Representatives of the 5,000 graduate students at UH-Manoa have complained that the students handle much of the teaching work on campus but are poorly paid and lack job security.